Titans: Apocalypse (The Dayhound Saga, Book V)
by Rin de Tong Nou
Summary: Two years have passed since Daniel Wilson was convicted of murder. Though he is overcome with regret with Helena gone, he feels a hole in his heart. He is ready to succumb fo life in prison, until one day Amanda Waller visits, offering freedom for a price. In this part of the Dayhound Saga, Daniel will discover what it truly means to be the Arbiter of Death.
1. Prologue

***Author's note**

Thanks for reading this! I left the country for a few years and have not had reliable wifi until I returned! This is the 5th installment in my series "The Dayhound Saga." If you have not read the others, that is strongly suggested.

Book 1- The Day Will Rise

Book 2- The Gemini: Day and Night

Book 3- Titans Rising

Book 4- The Gemini 2: Return of the Nightwolf

Thanks for reading, once again, and I hope you enjoy.

Prologue

"He doesn't talk much." The Psychologist told Amanda Waller. "He's very soft spoken. Although I've cracked what seems to be multiple layers of psychosis, there's still much more. He doesn't tell me everything either. I believe he is a compulsive liar, but I have no clue where he got that from. Both his mother and his brother, at least according to him, as well as other info I could gather on them, were very honest people."

"Interesting." Waller replied, looking through his file, "What would you describe his current mental state? Is he stable?"

"Well he certainly acts stable. Ms. Waller, I have reason to believe he is a sociopath."

"Why is that?" Waller asked.

"Because he acts like one. Sort of. It is the strangest case. He has absolutely no problem inflicting pain on others, but he seems to regret killing that girl. He says he does, anyways. He's so good at lying, I can't believe anything he says. He's fooled every lie detector test we've given him."

"How do you know he's lying then?"

"I guess when you put it that way, we don't for sure. But, when the whole cafeteria says that he beat up three inmates to the point of hospitalization, and he says that he didn't, that usually is a lie."

"And there is no sign of him lying at all on a lie detector? At all?"

"No. It looks more like the truth than his own name does."

"Interesting... How well has he been keeping up his shape? Does he work out?"

"Well, he was banned from the weight room for fighting, but after that, he devotes all of his free time to exercise. He does more push-ups and sit-ups than anyone I have ever met."

"And you said he fights a lot? Is there a reason?"

"He usually starts the fights. He has a sort of hero complex. If he sees or hears of anyone doing anything wrong, he beats said person up. I don't know where he learned to fight like this... He actually has the other inmates scared. And keep in mind that many of these inmates are insane as well."

"So, when can I talk to him?" Waller asked. The Doctor's radio buzzed. She grabbed it and put it to her ear. Seconds later, she put it back down.

"It would seem you can right now. He is fighting with another inmate in the cafeteria."

Waller, the doctor, and a few orderlies made their way quickly to the cafeteria. They burst open the doors to see a large circle of inmates. The orderlies stopped to try and get the inmates against the walls, but Waller just pushed through the crowd. She wanted to see the Dayhound in action.

Daniel Wilson had been in Arkham Asylum for about a year and a month now. He looked a little different than his picture on the ARGUS files. His formerly shaggy hair was cut neatly, and he had grown a medium-length beard. He looked a lot rougher than the boy that the Huntress loved so dearly. He looked hardened. He looked like a soldier.

Wilson was fighting a very large man. He was about 6 foot 7, and probably 300, almost 400 pounds. He could've been a professional wrestler.

The Wrestler picked Wilson up by his neck. Instead of panicking, Wilson grabbed the wrestler by his wrists and pushed down. He nailed the wrestler in the face with an elbow when he tried to get his arms back up. The wrestler dropped Wilson and staggered back.

Wilson didn't waste any time. He charged forward, leaped, and nailed the wrestler with a superman punch. The large man staggered back more, he probably would've fallen over, but the crowd pushed him back up. Wilson kicked him in the gut, then brought the man's head to his knee as he doubled over. The wrestler fell over hard onto the ground. Wilson had won.

Shortly after, some of the guards burst into the circle and slammed Wilson on the ground. It looked like he let them slam him though, but Waller could've been mistaken. The guards took him away.

"Ah, Miss Waller, there you are." The Doctor said, relieved, "I was worried that you had gotten lost or worse."

"It's alright, Doctor," Waller assured her, "I can handle myself. You don't get this high up in government by being cute."

"Even still, many of these people are deranged and very dangerous."

"Wilson is being taken to a treatment room for me to talk to him, I presume?"

"Yes. We were going to take him to the infirmary to treat his wounds, but he swears he is not that injured."

"Alright, let's go."

"Very well. I'm not sure how cooperative he will be though."

"I'm not asking for that. I will get him to cooperate."


	2. Chapter 1

Ch 1

The treatment rooms there were dark. I always thought they were too dark. They felt like interrogation rooms. Of course, I had gotten used to them, after being here for two years and a few months. It had been more than a year. Two years since I tortured Quinlan Kay to death. Two years since I found out the League of Shadows had a target on my back. Two years since Helena Bertinelli, the love of my life, died in my arms. God, why couldn't it have been me?

The door opened. A woman walked in. She was professionally dressed. She had dark skin, a short pixie cut, and light hazel eyes. She sat down across from me and set her brief case on the table. She pulled something out of it, and placed it behind the security camera in the room.

"Daniel Wilson, my name is Amanda Waller. I am the-" She started to say.

"I know who the hell you are." I interrupted rudely. "You're the reason Helena is gone. I would say you're the reason I'm in here, but we both know that is me."

"Good. I'm glad we can agree on that." Waller said. "I have a proposition for you, Dayhound."

I cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Don't worry, that device I placed on the camera is a jammer. They can't hear anything we are saying."

"Good." I said, leaning back in my chair. "Let's hear this 'proposition.'"

"As you know, I have a team, Task Force X." Waller began to say.

"The Suicide Squad." I added.

"So it's been called. We at ARGUS don't prefer that term. Anyways, as I'm sure you know, Task Force X is down one member. Has been for two years. So, if you agree to sign this..." She passed me a large contract, "I will get you out of here."

I picked up the contract. The cover page said the words "ARGUS, Task Force X" across it, with a big red "CONFIDENTIAL" stamped diagonally on the page. I flipped it open and thumbed through the pages, just scanning them as I did.

"What the hell is this?" I said somewhat calmly. "You want me to join up with your little Suicide Squad?"

"That's not exactly how I worded it in the contract, but yes." Said Waller.

"Why?"

She stood up, walked around the table, unhandcuffed me, then paced on the left side of the room.

"Did you know that you are currently one of the best hand to hand combatants ARGUS knows about? There are only about three better than you. You are ranked above Batman in unarmed and armed combat, according to ARGUS specialists. This makes you a very dangerous man. If it were up to my superiors, and take note, there aren't many of those. If it were up to them, they would lock every hero, villain or individual who thought they were above the law up. However, I think you people are very useful. That's why I started Task Force X. I believe that very bad people, or in your case people who made bad choices, deserve a chance to do some good. You're very skilled, Mr. Wilson, and I want to use those skills to help you, and help our country."

I was silent for a moment. I thumbed through the contract more, but my eyes were focused on Waller.

"You give a damn good speech, lady." I finally told her. She smirked. "When will you guys have me out? Also, when do I need to 'report in' or whatever?"

"Normally, I would have you out by the end of the week, but I may be able to pull some strings and get you out tomorrow. I should have you report in tomorrow as well, but I will give you two weeks to readjust and maybe talk to a couple of people who you care about. I understand your only visitor has been Mr. Wayne, and he hasn't visited in quite a while."

I was silent. She passed me a pen. I took it and signed the contract. I wasn't sure why she had me sign a contract, because apparently I was above the law, so there was nothing forcing me to keep the contract. I assumed that the Suicide Squad was forced to work for Waller under threat of death and I also assumed that I would be under that same threat.

Waller took the contract, picked up her briefcase, picked up the camera jammer, then left the room. A few moments later, some guards came in and took me back to my cell.

My cell was a white padded room. Apparently, because I had a history of suicidal tendencies, despite me trying to kill myself only one time (a long time ago, might I add), I had to be in a padded room because I was a "danger to myself." Bullshit. Bruce managed to convince them not to give me a straight jacket, but I still wasn't allowed to have sheets or even a blanket on my cot.

I sat cross legged on the ground and rubbed my bruised knuckles. That was 43 now. 43 inmates I had beaten up. 43 who had committed horrendous crimes and gotten away with them by claiming insanity. 43 who were about to do horrible things. 43 who had tried to attack me. I wasn't sure how many of each category there were, but I knew that I had beaten up 43 inmates.

Did I really deserve to be let out? I was definitely not insane, so the State of California claiming that I was legally insane was completely wrong. I had gotten off easy, like some of the criminals I had beaten up in here. I didn't deserve to be let out. I tortured a girl to death. Even if she was a member of the League of Shadows, she did not deserve that.

Eventually, I moved to the cot and went to bed. I figured an orderly would come get me for dinner, but I guess I didn't get any as punishment for beating up that punk.

The next morning, I was at breakfast. A note came with my meal, saying that I would be out at six o'clock. Great. I thought today would be easy, until Victor Zsasz sat at my table in the seat across from me. I glared at him.

"What are you doing here, Zsasz?" I asked angrily, "You know that the only reason I haven't beat the shit out of you is because you've left me alone."

"I know, but I am going to tell you something important." He told me. "Roman Sionis is sick of your shit. He put a hit on you."

"And you're here to kill me and claim it?"

"No, nothing like that. I know that I can't take you. I'm here to warn you."

"Why?"

"People like you and me have to help each other every so often."

I shot daggers at him with my eyes.

"I am nothing like you. You are a monster."

He shrugged, then left. Shit, ok, this was a obstacle. I had to survive until six. Easy. Who would take a hit against me anyways?

No one made a move until dinner time, for some reason. I was sitting there eating, when a muscular man came up to me. He grabbed my fork and tried to stab me with it.

I dodged it, then punched him in the ribs a few times. I felt a bone or two cracking, so I nailed him in that same spot with a sharp kick. He fell to the floor, unable to breathe due to broken ribs. Then, all hell broke loose.

A second man, smaller than the first, charged me. He tackled me through a table, and we slid until we hit the wall behind us. I managed to get a guillotine hold on him, but two more guys were coming. I slammed his head against the wall hard, then stood up to face the other two.

I nailed one in the face with a quick jab, then kicked the other in the knee. I slammed an elbow down on the back of his head, then turned my attention to the one I had punched. He held a leg of the table and was swinging it around as a weapon. I ducked under each swing and nailed him with a flurry of blows in his midsection. Eventually he collapsed, writhing in pain.

Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin, walked into view.

"Get 'em boys." He ordered a couple of his guys. "I'll split the reward with whichever of you blokes kills this bloody prick."

More men approached me, about five. Instead of waiting for them, I charged the one to the far left. I springboarded off a table and crashed into his head with my feet. I springboarded off his head and superman punched the guy next to him. Five more guys had joined in the fray now.

Three charged me. I grabbed the first one to come close by his arms, swung him around, and tossed him at the other two. I ran at a fifth guy, slid across the floor when I got close, grabbed his ankles, and pulled him down. I quickly jumped on his back and slammed his face into the ground a few times. One of the men I had knocked down a few seconds ago was now grabbing me by the top of my head. Good thing I had cut my hair, otherwise he would be pulling it right now.

Another man sent a foot across my face. It hurt, but it pulled my head out of the man's hand. I sent my head backwards and head butted the man with the back of my head. He staggered back, and I choke slammed him before he could recover. I couldn't believe the guards were doing nothing.

A third man, who had tattoos all over his face, drew a shiv from his shirt. He slashed at me, but I dodged backwards. I ran into a table, but this turned out to be a blessing. I waited for shiv-man to get close, then I slammed a food tray into the side of his head. I hit him a few times with the palms of my hands, but he was out cold on the third hit.

Two large men charged me simultaneously. I jumped up on the table and clotheslined both of them. I quickly scrambled on top of one of them and choked him until he was unconscious. The other big man had recovered and grabbed my shoulders. He threw me across the room. I rolled as I hit the floor, so it didn't hurt as much as it could've. I stood back up and charged him. I jumped up and put my legs around his neck, then I pulled downward, forcing him to flip headfirst into the floor.

I was exhausted, but there were still more of them to fight. The nearest man walked swiftly up to me, but I exhaustedly threw an overhand hook that completely sent him sprawling. I dove on top of him and started punching him in the head until he didn't move anymore.

I slowly pushed myself to my feet as the last two came at me. I jumped and managed to catch both of them with a roundhouse that would give me a couple of seconds to catch my breath.

The one closest to my left recovered quickest. He ran at me and threw a wild haymaker. I threw an arm up to deflect the blow, then countered with a jumping crane kick that sent him to the ground faster than anyone could react. The next guy was recovered now, and he charged me, but I picked him up by one of his legs and the back of his neck and slammed him on the ground, knocking him out cold as he hit. Now for Cobblepot's turn.

"Now hold it, Wilson, I think we can forget about this." He stammered out, trying to back up. "I didn't mean it, I was just joking."

I picked him up by his neck and tossed him across the room. He crashed through a table and slammed onto the floor. The guards finally came and slammed me against the wall with riot shields.

"Nice of you guys to show up." I groaned. The man who had me pinned against the wall pressed harder as a threat. They took me to a treatment room again. My psychologist, Wendy Matteson was there. I sat down. 

The door opened. A woman walked in. She was professionally dressed. She had dark skin, a short pixie cut, and light hazel eyes. She sat down across from me and set her brief case on the table. She pulled something out of it, and placed it behind the security camera in the room.

"Daniel Wilson, my name is Amanda Waller. I am the-" She started to say.

"I know who the hell you are." I interrupted rudely. "You're the reason Helena is gone. I would say you're the reason I'm in here, but we both know that is me."

"Good. I'm glad we can agree on that." Waller said. "I have a proposition for you, Dayhound."

I cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Don't worry, that device I placed on the camera is a jammer. They can't hear anything we are saying."

"Good." I said, leaning back in my chair. "Let's hear this 'proposition.'"

"As you know, I have a team, Task Force X." Waller began to say.

"The Suicide Squad." I added.

"So it's been called. We at ARGUS don't prefer that term. Anyways, as I'm sure you know, Task Force X is down one member. Has been for two years. So, if you agree to sign this..." She passed me a large contract, "I will get you out of here."

I picked up the contract. The cover page said the words "ARGUS, Task Force X" across it, with a big red "CONFIDENTIAL" stamped diagonally on the page. I flipped it open and thumbed through the pages, just scanning them as I did.

"What the hell is this?" I said somewhat calmly. "You want me to join up with your little Suicide Squad?"

"That's not exactly how I worded it in the contract, but yes." Said Waller.

"Why?"

She stood up, walked around the table, unhandcuffed me, then paced on the left side of the room.

"Did you know that you are currently one of the best hand to hand combatants ARGUS knows about? There are only about three better than you. You are ranked above Batman in unarmed and armed combat, according to ARGUS specialists. This makes you a very dangerous man. If it were up to my superiors, and take note, there aren't many of those. If it were up to them, they would lock every hero, villain or individual who thought they were above the law up. However, I think you people are very useful. That's why I started Task Force X. I believe that very bad people, or in your case people who made bad choices, deserve a chance to do some good. You're very skilled, Mr. Wilson, and I want to use those skills to help you, and help our country."

I was silent for a moment. I thumbed through the contract more, but my eyes were focused on Waller.

"You give a damn good speech, lady." I finally told her. She smirked. "When will you guys have me out? Also, when do I need to 'report in' or whatever?"

"Normally, I would have you out by the end of the week, but I may be able to pull some strings and get you out tomorrow. I should have you report in tomorrow as well, but I will give you two weeks to readjust and maybe talk to a couple of people who you care about. I understand your only visitor has been Mr. Wayne, and he hasn't visited in quite a while."

I was silent. She passed me a pen. I took it and signed the contract. I wasn't sure why she had me sign a contract, because apparently I was above the law, so there was nothing forcing me to keep the contract. I assumed that the Suicide Squad was forced to work for Waller under threat of death and I also assumed that I would be under that same threat.

Waller took the contract, picked up her briefcase, picked up the camera jammer, then left the room. A few moments later, some guards came in and took me back to my cell.

My cell was a white padded room. Apparently, because I had a history of suicidal tendencies, despite me trying to kill myself only one time (a long time ago, might I add), I had to be in a padded room because I was a "danger to myself." Bullshit. Bruce managed to convince them not to give me a straight jacket, but I still wasn't allowed to have sheets or even a blanket on my cot.

I sat cross legged on the ground and rubbed my bruised knuckles. That was 43 now. 43 inmates I had beaten up. 43 who had committed horrendous crimes and gotten away with them by claiming insanity. 43 who were about to do horrible things. 43 who had tried to attack me. I wasn't sure how many of each category there were, but I knew that I had beaten up 43 inmates.

Did I really deserve to be let out? I was definitely not insane, so the State of California claiming that I was legally insane was completely wrong. I had gotten off easy, like some of the criminals I had beaten up in here. I didn't deserve to be let out. I tortured a girl to death. Even if she was a member of the League of Shadows, she did not deserve that.

Eventually, I moved to the cot and went to bed. I figured an orderly would come get me for dinner, but I guess I didn't get any as punishment for beating up that punk.

The next morning, I was at breakfast. A note came with my meal, saying that I would be out at six o'clock. Great. I thought today would be easy, until Victor Zsasz sat at my table in the seat across from me. I glared at him.

"What are you doing here, Zsasz?" I asked angrily, "You know that the only reason I haven't beat the shit out of you is because you've left me alone."

"I know, but I am going to tell you something important." He told me. "Roman Sionis is sick of your shit. He put a hit on you."

"And you're here to kill me and claim it?"

"No, nothing like that. I know that I can't take you. I'm here to warn you."

"Why?"

"People like you and me have to help each other every so often."

I shot daggers at him with my eyes.

"I am nothing like you. You are a monster."

He shrugged, then left. Shit, ok, this was a obstacle. I had to survive until six. Easy. Who would take a hit against me anyways?

No one made a move until dinner time, for some reason. I was sitting there eating, when a muscular man came up to me. He grabbed my fork and tried to stab me with it.

I dodged it, then punched him in the ribs a few times. I felt a bone or two cracking, so I nailed him in that same spot with a sharp kick. He fell to the floor, unable to breathe due to broken ribs. Then, all hell broke loose.

A second man, smaller than the first, charged me. He tackled me through a table, and we slid until we hit the wall behind us. I managed to get a guillotine hold on him, but two more guys were coming. I slammed his head against the wall hard, then stood up to face the other two.

I nailed one in the face with a quick jab, then kicked the other in the knee. I slammed an elbow down on the back of his head, then turned my attention to the one I had punched. He held a leg of the table and was swinging it around as a weapon. I ducked under each swing and nailed him with a flurry of blows in his midsection. Eventually he collapsed, writhing in pain.

Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin, walked into view.

"Get 'em boys." He ordered a couple of his guys. "I'll split the reward with whichever of you blokes kills this bloody prick."

More men approached me, about five. Instead of waiting for them, I charged the one to the far left. I springboarded off a table and crashed into his head with my feet. I springboarded off his head and superman punched the guy next to him. Five more guys had joined in the fray now.

Three charged me. I grabbed the first one to come close by his arms, swung him around, and tossed him at the other two. I ran at a fifth guy, slid across the floor when I got close, grabbed his ankles, and pulled him down. I quickly jumped on his back and slammed his face into the ground a few times. One of the men I had knocked down a few seconds ago was now grabbing me by the top of my head. Good thing I had cut my hair, otherwise he would be pulling it right now.

Another man sent a foot across my face. It hurt, but it pulled my head out of the man's hand. I sent my head backwards and head butted the man with the back of my head. He staggered back, and I choke slammed him before he could recover. I couldn't believe the guards were doing nothing.

A third man, who had tattoos all over his face, drew a shiv from his shirt. He slashed at me, but I dodged backwards. I ran into a table, but this turned out to be a blessing. I waited for shiv-man to get close, then I slammed a food tray into the side of his head. I hit him a few times with the palms of my hands, but he was out cold on the third hit.

Two large men charged me simultaneously. I jumped up on the table and clotheslined both of them. I quickly scrambled on top of one of them and choked him until he was unconscious. The other big man had recovered and grabbed my shoulders. He threw me across the room. I rolled as I hit the floor, so it didn't hurt as much as it could've. I stood back up and charged him. I jumped up and put my legs around his neck, then I pulled downward, forcing him to flip headfirst into the floor.

I was exhausted, but there were still more of them to fight. The nearest man walked swiftly up to me, but I exhaustedly threw an overhand hook that completely sent him sprawling. I dove on top of him and started punching him in the head until he didn't move anymore.

I slowly pushed myself to my feet as the last two came at me. I jumped and managed to catch both of them with a roundhouse that would give me a couple of seconds to catch my breath.

The one closest to my left recovered quickest. He ran at me and threw a wild haymaker. I threw an arm up to deflect the blow, then countered with a jumping crane kick that sent him to the ground faster than anyone could react. The next guy was recovered now, and he charged me, but I picked him up by one of his legs and the back of his neck and slammed him on the ground, knocking him out cold as he hit. Now for Cobblepot's turn.

"Now hold it, Wilson, I think we can forget about this." He stammered out, trying to back up. "I didn't mean it, I was just joking."

I picked him up by his neck and tossed him across the room. He crashed through a table and slammed onto the floor. The guards finally came and slammed me against the wall with riot shields.

"Nice of you guys to show up." I groaned. The man who had me pinned against the wall pressed harder as a threat. They took me to a treatment room again. My psychologist, Wendy Matteson was there. I sat down.


	3. Chapter 2

Ch 2

"So, I hear you're getting released today." Dr. Matteson said. I remained silent. "Come on, Daniel, don't play this game with me. Can we talk after your fights for once?"

"This one wasn't on me." I muttered, "Black Mask put a hit on me."

"You mean that Roman Sionis put a hit on you, right?" She suggested in a calm but firm tone. "Black Mask isn't a person. Roman Sionis is just a sick man."

"Sure lady." I agreed sarcastically, "Look, when are you gonna realize that some people are just evil?"

"When you start telling the truth about things, Daniel."

"I'm not a compulsive liar!" I yelled. I was sick of her calling me that.

"Fine. Tell me a truth about yourself. A personality trait, or where you have been for the two years before you were arrested."

"You won't believe my truths."

"Try me."

"Ok, fine." I growled angrily. "I am an incarnation of an ancient magical being called the Arbiter of Death. I can used magic, see the future with my dreams, even influence things on the other side of the world."

She put her face in her hands.

"I can't tell if you're lying or just delusional. I did everything in my power to try and keep you here, but Amanda Waller, whoever she is, has much more power than anyone at this facility."

A guard came in and said my time was up. I was escorted down the hall to a large steel cage. He pushed me up against it and patted me down. After finding no weapon, he unlocked a gate and shoved me through.

I approached the window. An orderly was there.

"Alright, Daniel Wilson, you have been cleared for release by the US government. You will not have any parole, and you will not have to check in." The orderly in the window said. He was clearly quite bored, because he said it quietly and quickly. He placed a box on the counter. "Your personal effects are as follows: one black v-neck t-shirt, one pair of jeans, one cell phone, one pair of black sneakers, one leather wallet, one New Jersey driver's license, fifteen dollars, and one arrowhead shaped necklace. If that's everything, please change into your street clothes, turn in your inmate fatigues, and sign here."

I changed into my street clothes, although I hesitated to put Helena's necklace on. Once I had changed, I placed my phone and wallet in my pocket, my fatigues on the counter, and signed the clipboard the Orderly had passed me.

"Alright, Wilson, you're a free man." He said, as the guard unlocked the next gate. I smirked at him, daring him to try and touch me now that I was no longer a prisoner. He looked pissed, but made no move on me. I exited Arkham Asylum for the first time after two years. All feelings of regret, that I didn't serve my time fully, that feeling left as soon as I saw the sun as a free man. I walked a few blocks, then called a cab.

I wasn't sure where to go, but I figured I ought to go to Wayne Manor. The driver looked at me funny when I told him to take me there, but I insisted. The cab fare turned out to be sixteen dollars, but the driver grudgingly took my fifteen and drove off.

I approached the front door slowly, took a deep breath, then rang the doorbell. It took a minute, but Alfred came to the door.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid Master Bruce isn't expecting company at this time." Alfred said as he started to close the door. I stopped it. I guess he didn't recognize me with my beard and new haircut.

"Alfred, wait." I pleaded as I placed a hand on the door to stop it. Upon hearing my voice, the old butler threw the door open.

"Master Daniel? Good God, what happened to your hair?" He asked as he let me in, "I hardly recognized you! And that beard looks absolutely dreadful!"

"I cut it off. I fought a lot of the inmates, and my long hair turned out to be a weakness without my costume."

"And the beard? Which, by the way, looks absolutely atrocious, no offense intended."

I sighed. "None taken. I had to look more fearsome somehow."

"Well, it makes you look like a madman."

"According to the state of California, I am a madman." I replied quickly. He was hesitant.

"So I've heard... Did you really-"

"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to, Alfred." I spat out, interrupting him. "Is Bruce home?"

"He is. But I'm afraid he is preoccupied. With a young woman."

"Jesus, come on Bruce..." I muttered, getting on the stairs, "How long ago did they come in?"

"About ten minutes. I suggest you don't interrupt."

"I'll risk it." I said, walking up the stairs. I walked quietly over to Bruce's room, and put my ear up to the door. When I didn't hear anything too unseeable, I burst in.

There was a blonde woman, probably early twenties, standing in the room wearing her underwear. Bruce was laying on the bed, shirtless, but otherwise fully clothed.

She screeched and tried to cover herself with her arms. Bruce sat up.

"Daniel?" He asked gruffly.

"Who the hell is this guy?" The girl screeched.

"He's my... Son. Sort of." Bruce said, trying to calm her down.

"You have a son?"

"I'm adopted." I growled at her. I quickly scoured the room for her clothes. She took them and put them on as quick as she could.

"How did you...? I'm sorry, Veronica could you give us the room?"

"Um... My name is Valerie." The blonde said.

"Sorry, ugh... Please give us the room." He said. It sounded like more of an order than a suggestion. She grumbled, but left the room. "What are you doing here? How did you get out?"

"ARGUS. I have to join their Suicide Squad."

"What the hell were you thinking?" He yelled at me.

"I was thinking that I didn't want to die in Arkham Asylum!" I yelled back. I was nearly as tall as him, so we were face to face. "I was thinking that I didn't want to fight for survival every single day of my life! I was thinking that you and I could be a team again!"

He was silent. He sat back down on the bed. Finally, he looked at me.

"You shouldn't grow a beard. You look too much like Slade Wilson. I almost attacked you." He finally said.

"I don't want to look so young anymore." I replied. He laughed.

"It doesn't matter. You are still young, even if you don't feel that way. Your long hair would've made you more identifiable. Why did you cut it?"

"Tactical Advantage." I explained. "Without my head covered, my hair became a weakness in fights."

He stopped and stared at me for a moment.

"Makes sense." He replied. "Has anyone ever told you that you are becoming too much like me?"

"Yeah... Too many people." I told him. He looked sad about that, but I still couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

"Why don't you go see Jason?" Bruce ordered me, "Show him some of that 'superior combat style' we were talking about a couple of years ago."

We left the room. He went to go talk to Valerie (even though he probably wouldn't get any now that he had forgotten her name), and I went downstairs.

"Yo Alfred, where's Jason?" I asked him as I saw him.

"Master Jason is down in the cave." He replied. "I am actually going down there now. The young man requested I bring some cookies."

"Jesus, if I had known you took cookie requests, I never would've stopped living here."


	4. Chapter 3

Ch 3

Jason Todd was much taller than when I had last seen him. Although I HAD only seen him once, when Batman first brought him in. Alfred and I approached him as he was training.

"Master Jason," Alfred greeted him, "I do hope you remember Master Daniel."

"What happened to your hair?" He asked calmly.

"Long story. People can't grab it now, though."

"You're right. Alfred, I think we should shave my head. Even more tactical advantage than he gets."

"We'll see about that, Master Jason." Alfred grudgingly said. "Do be careful, boys. I don't want to have to reset anyone's arm."

Alfred left the cave. I explained the situation to Jason. He agreed to learn a little from me. He didn't know enough about fighting to say whose style was better, but I still told him that mine was.

He and I didn't talk about much else besides fighting and crime. He told me that the Joker had gone into hiding around the time I was arrested. Of course, Jason didn't know I was arrested, and I sure as hell wasn't going to tell him, but he told me it was around the same date. A few weeks after, actually. They hadn't figured out why, but he had suddenly just disappeared.

I went upstairs and took a shower alone for the first time in what seemed like forever. The water was actually hot. I swear, I was crying, but I couldn't tell because I was in the shower. Alfred must've come in at some point, because my clothes were gone and fresh new ones were laid out neatly on the bathroom counter. I used a towel to dry off, then changed into the clothes he had given me.

I stepped out of the bathroom and into the living room, where Alfred was reading.

"Ah, Master Daniel. I trust you are feeling refreshed?" He asked me. I nodded.

"Do you know where my costume is? It hasn't been kept in the Cave for about four years now and I have no idea where Bruce would've put it."

"From my understanding, Master Bruce never brought it home. I hadn't asked him about it, but I never intended to either. It devastated him when you were sentenced. I think getting you transferred to Arkham was an awful idea, no offense intended."

"None taken. So, I don't have a costume?" I asked him. I know it was a long shot, thinking that Bruce had actually brought it home. Last time I saw that thing, it had been dyed almost completely red with blood. Not all of it had been Quinlan's, but much of it was.

"I am afraid not. Shall I make you another? You mean to go back into the field?"

"I wish. There are certain... Terms to my release, Alfred. I hadn't served my sentence fully yet."

He looked puzzled. He put down his book, and scratched his head.

"What would these terms be, Master Daniel?"

"Government work. It's better if you don't know."

"You know," he said as he got up and walked to the doorway, "I don't remember there being so many secrets in this house. Shall I make your costume to the same specifications?"

"No." I told him, after thinking about it for a while, "Make this one gray."

"Is there any particular reason?"

"White makes me seem too good. Like an angel. We both know that I am not an angel."

He frowned when I said that, but he didn't say anything else. He left the room, presumably to go make my costume.

I decided to take the old Dodge Challenger to the cemetery where Helena was buried. I hadn't been able to go to her funeral, because I had been incarcerated then. I don't even know who all came, since her father and most of the high level members of his crew were dead. I had imagined her funeral though. In my head, all the normal looking members of the Suicide Squad had come, so Captain Cold, Deadshot, and Harley Quinn. Batman had come, in disguise though. He couldn't come as Bruce Wayne, of course. The Teen Titans had come, but Cyborg and Beast Boy watched from afar. Amanda Waller was there, along with a few members of ARGUS, but probably just to keep an eye on the Suicide Squad members.

This had been my imagination, so I, of course, spoke at the funeral. I choked up during my speech, and someone, usually one of the Titans, came up to comfort me. This was one of many things I thought about multiple times while I was in Arkham.

She was buried at a cemetery near her old house. I wished she, my mother, and Kam were all in the same cemetery, but there was nothing I could do about that.

Her headstone was very simple. It had her name, her birth date, her death date, some scripture from the Bible, and "RIP." To top it all off, her headstone had a large cross carved into it. I took off her necklace and knelt down over the grave. God, why did it have to be her? I felt hot tears running down my face like blood. It started to rain.

"Must've been a helluva girl, t' make you cry." A Welsh accent said behind me. I slowly turned around. John Constantine stood there, looking the exact same as when I met him years ago. He held a black umbrella, but he offered it to me. "Take it, I insist. Who was she?"

"A girl who I loved." I replied mournfully. I took his umbrella. "I was gonna marry her, John. I didn't know it until she was gone, but I was gonna marry her."

"God, I am so sorry, Danny." He told me, placing a hand on my shoulder sympathetically.

"What are you doing here?" I finally asked after I composed myself.

"I'm here to find you, coincidentally. Heard you were in Arkham, but when I tracked your energy signature, you were out here."

"So it's not a coincidence." I told him.

"It is. I was coming out here anyways."

"Why?"

"That's what I needed to talk to you about. Gio has gone missing."

"Missing, as in gone?" I asked. Giovani Zatara, Zatanna's dad, was the most powerful magician in the world. He taught Constantine, Zatanna, and me everything we know about magic.

"Yes, as in vanished without a trace. This cemetery is actually near his last known location. Come on, let's go look."

"Whoa, Constantine, hold up." I said. "I can't just, investigate. I'm not costumed."

"It's alright, if we get spotted, you can just shave that horrid thing on your face. Come on, we haven't got all day."

I started to protest, but John started walking away, so I couldn't do anything but follow.

After walking across the cemetery, we found what appeared to be the groundskeeper's house. The old one at least, because this one was locked with a heavy padlock.

"Here we are." He said, picking up the padlock in his hand. "Don't suppose you know how to pick locks?"

"I do, but I don't have the tools. Why don't you just use magic?"

"If it were that simple I would've thought of it. But it won't work."

"Why not?"

"The lock's enchanted."

I shoved him aside and blasted the lock with a pulse of energy. It snapped off with ease.

"Someone's been practicing." John commented. I shrugged.

"I had a lot of time in solitary at Arkham." I said, then I shoved open the door. It was jammed a little, like someone hadn't been there in a while.

"Are you sure Zatara was here?" I asked, peering into the darkness. I couldn't see a single thing in there, despite the light that was being let in through the door. I felt that same nervous twitch I had felt right before the League of Shadows had attacked the Homecoming dance.

"You feel that?" John said seriously, "That energy?"

"Yeah… Shit... Are you sure about this Constantine?"

"Yes. We owe it to the Old Man." He said, stepping through into the shadows. The moment he stepped into the darkness, he was invisible, or not there, or something. I followed.

It was like I had woken up from a dream, or maybe I was in a dream. When I stepped into the darkness, it all disappeared. The cemetery, the shack, even Gotham City. I was walking into a large Gothic Style mansion. The door slammed behind me. Constantine was a few feet in front of me.

"What the hell?" I asked, shocked, "Where are we?"

John didn't answer. He tried, but a booming feminine voice sounded overhead.

"The House of Secrets." The voice said. She wasn't yelling, but it hurt my ears. "Of Victims. The House of Mystery."

A woman appeared right before our eyes. Her black hair was long, down to her lower back, she wore a red and black evening gown that seemed to be from the early 1900's. It was dusty and tattered. Her eyes were what stuck out though. They glowed a bright Amber color.

"Who enters this place?" She asked firmly. It was the same voice that we heard overhead a few moments ago.

"Um... John Constantine and Daniel Wilson." Constantine quickly said, "Magicians, looking for a man who may have been here. Giovanni Zatara."

The woman disappeared, then reappeared next to me. She leaned in, rather close. Her skin was very pale, and that made her eyes stand out even more.

"It has been a long time since Death has walked these halls." She whispered. "You even have his eyes."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked.

"Death. The Arbiter of Death." She said, teleporting from the spot next to me to a large armchair by the ginormous fireplace. "Sit down. Listen to what I will say, and I will tell you about Giovanni Zatara."

John and I sat in armchairs identical to hers. They were very comfortable, but also very dusty.

"This place, it is the House of Secrets." The woman said. "I am known as Secret, because I am the Arbiter of Secrets."

"Wait, there's more than just one Arbiter?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yes, Death, there are many of us. Normally, they are reincarnations, such as you are. My soul is tied to this place though, so I shall never die, unless this place is destroyed, which is very hard to do. Near impossible."

"So, what do Arbiters do? Like, what is the role of an Arbiter?"

"No one knows exactly. We know some of them. My role is to guard this house. Your role is to help those who have lived long enough find peace in the grave."

"Wait, my role is to kill people?"

"Yes, Death. The most famous Arbiter of Death, my lover, is the reason people tell stories of the Grim Reaper. He wore bones on his face and wielded a scythe to take his victims' lives."

"What if I don't want to kill people?"

"It is not your choice. Death's mere presence causes death." She explain ominously. This sort of made sense. My mom was dead, Kam was dead, and now Helena. Was it really my fault that they were dead?

"So what does any of this have to do with Gio?" John asked, getting impatient. There was a lot of negative energy here, so I understood why.

"None of it, John Constantine." She said angrily. When she got angry, it sounded more like many voices. It kind of unnerved me. He decided to shut his trap after that.

"You said I have his eyes? What do you mean?"

"The last Arbiter of Death who entered the House of Secrets was my lover, as I said before." She said bluntly. "But he fell to his own affliction. It's ironic, actually, how even Death dies eventually. Tell me, do you remember anything of your old lives?"

I thought for a moment, but I eventually shook my head. She looked disappointed, but started talking again.

"Your friend, Zatara, was here looking for secrets. All are stored in this house. I believe he was trying to prevent the end of the world."

"Do you know where he went?" Constantine asked, this time more calmly. She nodded.

"Yes. He was gone to a dimension known as Armageddon. He seemed to believe that the end of the world would originate from there. I am unsure how he got there though."

"Great, we are back to square one then." Constantine said frustrated. "A hand pointed in a direction, but not knowing how to get there."

We thanked Secret then walked towards the door. I swore, for a split second, she was in front of me, kissing me, but it seemed to be just a flash of something.

"Now what, Constantine?" I asked once we were back in the cemetery.

"Now, I gotta go tell Zee that her dad is trapped in another dimension."

"Is she... Is she still in San Fransisco?" I was genuinely curious. The last time I saw Zatanna, she was rejecting me because of Helena. I needed a chance to talk to her again. I wasn't sure if I could ever have a relationship again, because that's what it felt like, but I did need a chance to tell Zee that I wasn't mad at her.

"Yes, but she's leaving soon. I was actually going down there to help her move out. I had hoped to find her dad before then, but I guess that isn't going to happen."

"I'll come with you." I suggested, "I haven't seen those guys in a while."

"There's no way in hell, mate." He told me, "Whoever had the power to get you outta Arkham that fast is someone I don't want to mess with. Sorry mate, but it ain't gonna happen."

I agreed with him, it was too dangerous to mess with Waller. We said our goodbyes and left the cemetery separately. I felt kind of empty inside, but that was understandable. 


	5. Chapter 4

Ch 4

I got back to Wayne Manor earlier than I thought I would. Right as I pulled in the garage, Alfred was standing there.

"Master Daniel," he said gravely, "While you were gone, an ARGUS agent came for you."

"What? Bitch said I had two weeks."

"I don't think that 'bitch,' Amanda Waller wants you to report in." He said, holding out an envelope. I was surprised at his use of the word bitch, even if it was just him quoting me, but was even more surprised that he knew Amanda Waller. "He dropped this envelop off for you, saying to meet Waller at this location, in suit and tie."

"You know Amanda Waller?" I asked him.

"Yes. You don't get to be the Batman's butler without meeting some people. But I had met her before I was a butler. Although it was her father whom I knew best."

I took the envelope from him. I was interested in his history with Waller, but he left before I could ask. This made me realize how much I didn't know about Alfred. Who had he been before? I knew he fought in a war, but other than that, I had no clue about his history before becoming the Wayne's butler.

I opened the envelope. It contained an address and a time. 5:30 pm. I looked at my watch. It was 4:00 pm. I had plenty of time.

I exited the garage and went into the living room. I heard the doorbell ring as I sat down.

"Master Daniel," Alfred said from a different room, "Could you get that please? I am quite busy."

I groaned quietly, but stood up and ran over to the door. I opened it. A beautiful redhead girl, early twenties with bright green eyes was standing there. My jaw dropped.

"Babs?" I asked. She has been beautiful last time I had seen her, but now she was gorgeous.

"Danny? Damn, I hardly recognized you!" She said loudly.

"Yeah, you too! But in a good way. Like... Damn!" I rambled. I felt like hugging her, but we'd left on such awkward terms that I couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead, she surprised me, and hugged me tight.

"I heard about Helena and what happened." She said, still hugging me, "Are you ok?"

I waited until she let go to answer.

"Yeah." I assured her, wiping away the start of tears in my eyes, "I am. I think. I just... Miss her, you know?"

"I know, Danny. I know." Babs comforted, "Ok, I like the haircut, but the beard makes you look old."

"I don't really care." I told her. "I'm not trying to look good."

There was an awkward silence. I coughed a little.

"So... Um... You got my message last year, right? After the night of prom?"

"Yeah. I never got around to responding to it. Helena had been forced to join ARGUS, you know?"

"I get it. I just wish... I don't know. Are we still friends?"

"Yeah." I told her. We hugged again.

"Is Bruce here?" She asked. I nodded, then looked at my watch. It was almost time to get going.

I told Babs I'd see her later, then went upstairs to change into a suit. I took a corvette from Bruce's garage, then drove to the location on the card.

It was a restaurant. One of those modern-French type places where the food was strangely named and sometimes unrecognizable as food. I parked out front, then entered the front door.

The hostess was clearly an agent. She wore a tiny ear communicator that would've been extremely hard to notice, if she hadn't messed with it. Her posture was also rigid, like someone who was in the military.

"Right this way, sir." She said the moment I came in. This restaurant had way too much security. I knew I was in the right place.

The dining room was somewhat full, but no one in there was eating. They all had food in front of them, but no one was eating anything. Definitely ARGUS agents.

The hostess led me to a table near the middle of the room. Waller was there, along with one other man.

"Ah, Daniel Wilson, glad you could join us." Waller said, tapping her mouth lightly with a napkin. "This is Colonel Rick Flag. He'll be your commanding officer in Task Force X."

"Hey, my son's a big fan." Flag said as he got up to shake my hand. "He has shirts and stuff with you on it. He's a huge fan."

I glared at him and sat down. He stood there awkwardly for a moment with his hand outstretched, but then he sat back down.

"I'm not a soldier, Waller." I said gruffly.

"I'm sorry, did you think you were part of the army?" Waller asked rudely, "He's your commanding officer. That means he's the one who is going to kill you if you rebel."

"What the hell? I signed up! Did you forget that?" I growled in my Dayhound voice. God, I haven't used that in forever.

"No, Dayhound, I did not. But that doesn't change the fact that you're a criminal. You killed a girl. You're a murderer, and we are going to treat you like all the other murderers in Task Force X."

"I am not a murderer!" I roared as I slammed my hands down on the table. As I got to my feet, everyone else in the room did too. All the agents drew pistols from their coats and aimed at me. Waller started to chuckle.

"Go on, make a move, Dayhound, make my day." She and Flag were the only ones still sitting. Waller was normal, smiling even. Flag was stiff. He had his hand on his gun, but it wasn't out of his holster.

A man approached me. One of the agents. This one was actually familiar to me. Special Agent Castle Fischer. The man who had "recruited" Helena for Task Force X. I grabbed him, hit him twice, then grabbed a fork and held it to his neck, threatening to spill his blood if anyone made a move. Waller laughed harder. Flag was up, pointing his gun at me.

"Drop him, Wilson." Flag ordered calmly. "I don't want to shoot you, but I will to protect that man."

"Flag. You said you had a family?" I growled at him.

"Yeah. A wife and a son, Richard Flag the third."

"Alright... What if someone took your wife away from you? Murdered her in cold blood?"

"I would probably be pretty pissed. But that man didn't kill Helena, Quinlan Kay did. You already killed her."

"That's where you're wrong Flag!" I roared, "This man and Waller both killed her! They forced her to join up with Task Force X! They threatened to take both of us to jail."

"I understand that." Flag told me calmly as he returned his weapon to his holster, "But what's gonna happen if you kill him? All these men, they're gonna shoot you. At the very least take you to prison, make sure you're there for life. Is that what Helena would've wanted?"

He was right. He was goddam right. I shoved Agent Fischer away, stabbed the fork into the table, then fell back into my seat. All the agents, including Colonel Flag, sat back down.

"Good. Now that you are calmed down, we can discuss more important matters." Waller said. She passed a file over to me. "We need to call you in earlier than expected. There is a metahuman situation in the Middle Eastern country of Qurac. Three villages have been destroyed trying to take care of it, but neither the local militia nor our military is obviously not equipped to deal with this kind of situation."

"So you want the Suicide Squad to come in and handle it?"

"Discreetly. That means no one gets caught. If someone gets caught, Colonel Flag is ordered to kill them. The Quracan government is currently not a friend of the US, even though we are solving their metahuman problem. If one of you gets caught, even though you are criminals, you're still Americans. Inside this dossier is all the information you will need, as well as some info about your teammates."

"Why are you giving me this? Isn't this 'need-to-know' or some shit?" I asked in a hostile tone.

"Flag." She said, telling him to explain.

"Despite your, um... Violent history, I still believe you are a hero. Waller doesn't, but she isn't the one who will be in the field with you. I believe that you are as need-to-know as I am."

"Well... Thanks, I guess." I muttered. I was surprised that Flag was being so kind to me. He had to have ulterior motives.

"I need you to meet us at the Gotham Airport in costume in exactly an hour." Waller said, "If you aren't there, you're dead."

"I'm curious as to how you're gonna kill me." I muttered quietly. I felt a prick in my neck. I growled quietly. An agent holding a syringe backed away.

"You were just injected with a million tiny microbots. They are completely harmless, unless you don't comply with our orders. When activated, they expand and block your blood vessels. As I'm sure you can imagine, it is extremely painful and very lethal. After they are done killing you, they will explode, as to hide your identity." Waller explained.

"Alright, alright. Gotham Airport, one hour." I agreed. She nodded. I stood up and got out of there. I sped back to Wayne manor.


	6. Chapter 5

Ch 5

"Good God, Master Daniel, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Alfred exclaimed as I burst into the Manor.

"Sorry Alfred. My costume ready?" I asked quickly.

"Yes, but you're going out tonight? You just got back!"

"No time to explain. Waller. Gotham Airport, one hour. Exploding microbots in my system."

"Alright, it's in my sewing room." He told me, then went back to cleaning.

I ran into the sewing room, threw on my new costume, then ran back out into the entrance hall.

Bruce, Babs, Jason, and Alfred were all there. The first three were in costume.

"Where did you say you were going, Master Daniel?" Alfred asked.

"Gotham airport. I need to meet Waller and Colonel Flag there, otherwise they'll kill me."

"Crap Danny, what have you gotten yourself into?" Batgirl asked, approaching me.

"No time to explain."

"He's right." Bruce agreed, "He has to go. ARGUS doesn't mess around."

I said my goodbyes then rushed to the airport on one of Bruce's bullet bikes. I stealthily hopped the fence, then rushed over to a heavily guarded military chopper.

"Ah, Dayhound, glad you could make it." Waller said cruelly, "and right on time too."

Flag reached out to try and shake my hand again, but I just stared at it until he put it back down.

"This is Artemis, my bodyguard." Rick told me, introducing me to a woman. She looked about my age. She also looked like some kind of female Green Arrow. Her hair was blonde and she had brown eyes. She wore a green outfit that was similar to something a professional archer would wear, although it was probably heavily armored. She had a compound bow that was heavily modded, with sights, a stabilizer, the whole setup.

"Does she have any connections with the Green Arrow?" I asked in my gravelly Dayhound voice.

"No. I have nothing but a deep admiration for the man." She said, stepping between me and Flag. She was trying to seem threatening, but failing. I was just in Arkham for two years. There was no way this girl could scare me.

"She was an Olympic archer." Flag explained, "ARGUS decided to hire her as my bodyguard. She has since been trained in a few forms of martial arts."

I looked at her for a moment, then we boarded the chopper and it took off.

After a while, I yelled to Rick Flag, who was sitting next to me.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"Belle Reeve prison, in Louisiana." He replied, "It's a high-security, low-capacity prison. It only holds only six prisoners, currently it only has five though. They are all members of Task Force X."

"I'm guessing the sixth one is for me?" I growled.

"No one ever said that." Flag told me.

"No one said I would have exploding microbots in my system either, but that still happened. Listen Flag, I just got out of one prison. I am not going back."

"And I will do everything I can to ensure that you don't. Believe me, Dayhound, I am on your side here. I don't know what I can do to prove that."

"You can't. Which means I can't trust you."

He and I didn't speak anymore, which gave me time to look over the dossier Waller gave me. I decided to turn to the profiles of my teammates.

The first one was Deadshot, Floyd Lawton. I knew him, kind of. He helped me kill Quinlan. He was a highly trained assassin who had never missed a shot. He loved killing, but he had a code of morals, apparently. He wouldn't kill anyone who didn't deserve it. In his book, that wasn't many men though. He basically wouldn't kill saints or men who were pretty much Ghandi.

Next up we had Harley Quinn, aka Doctor Harleen Quinzel. Pretty much everyone from Gotham knew her story. She was a doctor at Arkham Asylum who was specifically assigned to the Joker. Instead of curing him though, she grew attached, believing she was in love with him. She helped him escape and became the psycho she is today. She had also helped me kill Quinlan.

Next on the dossier we had Great White, aka Warren White. He was previously a low life, a crooked investor. He was apprehended, then pleaded insanity and was sent to Arkham. He was experimented on by an evil doctor (who was no longer employed). These experiments left his DNA heavily damaged, so the doctor used a mixture of radiation, shark DNA, and a little bit of killer croc's DNA to create the giant shark-man known as Great White.

Then we had Bronze Tiger. His real name was Benjamin Turner. It said on his profile that he was one of the world's greatest martial artists, but it didn't say if he was better than me or not. He had trained under Japan's greatest grandmaster, O-Sensei, although he did go on to become better than O-Sensei. Then he was recruited by the League of Shadows. Brainwashed, actually. It said that he was able to resist the League's brainwashing eventually, but I still made a mental note to be wary around him. If his profile was right, he could've been a valuable ally to me. If it was wrong, and he was just acting like he was resisting, then this could end very badly for me.

The last profile surprised me. I was expecting it to be Captain Cold, like it had been last year, but instead it was someone I dreaded to see on there: Firefly. This was the only one on the list I had actually fought. I was sure he still hated me, especially because I kicked his ass and destroyed his jetpack every time we fought.

I had finished with the file. There was not much else on there though. Waller had explained pretty much everything else at the restaurant.

We landed at Belle Reeve. All the prisoners were there, in handcuffs.

"Hey, I remember you!" Harley Quinn said in her heavy East Ender accent as I stepped off the chopper, "I helped you kill choirgirl's killer last year."

"How the hell have you been?" Lawton asked, laughing.

"In prison." I told him. He and everyone else laughed. This was something they were used to, so it was funny to them, I guess, that I was the one being a prisoner instead.

Rick Flag and the rest of the soldiers unloaded crates of gear for the rest of the Squad.

"Firefly." I greeted him as he was gearing up.

"Save it, Dayhound." He growled quietly, "We might be on the same team, but we are not friends."

Bronze Tiger called me over. He was almost done putting his gear on. When I got over, he was trying on a pair of brass knuckles.

"I hear you're pretty good at fighting." He said.

"I hear the same about you." I replied.

"We should spar some time. I am curious to see who is better."

I looked at him warily.

"Look, I know about your... History with the League. Both as the Dayhound and the Arbiter. I promise you I am not with them anymore. If you expect me to have your back, then I have your back."

I shook his hand.

"I appreciate that. I am sure I will be able to trust you, in time." I told him. He nodded, then I walked over to Flag.

"What do you think, Dayhound?" He asked me. I shrugged.

"I am not sure. I hope you don't expect me to kill anyone?"

"I do. Sorry, but it's necessary." Flag told me apologetically, "I hope this will put us on good terms. A peace offering, if you will."

He placed an object in my hand. I unwrapped the cloth that covered it. It was a large revolver that was painted matte black. Kameron's gun. The same one he shot himself with. The same gun that Quinlan had shot Helena with.

"I pulled it out of the ruins of Bay High School." Flag said as I rolled the gun in my hands, "It has hurt you a lot, huh? Maybe now it will help you."

"I appreciate it, Flag." I assured him. He passed me a small crate. It had Kam's holster and a load of ammo for the gun. I put the holster around my waist and jammed the ammo into my pockets.

"How was your time behind bars, hot stuff?" Harley asked me.

"I was in Arkham, actually. It was hell."

"The first time's always the worst. Did you see my puddin' there?"

"Quinn, the Joker's disappeared." I told her. I wasn't sure if she knew.

"I know..." She said sadly, as she frowned, "I was just hoping... You know..."

God, this was more than attachment, I realized. This was obsession. Harley Quinn was not in a good place, psychologically.

"So... How are you holding up after your babe died?"

"I... That's not a good question."

She put a hand on my shoulder. Some of the soldiers got tense, but they didn't act.

"I want you to know that she and I were good friends, so I feel your pain. We were the only girls on the team, so we had to stick together. She really liked you."

"Thanks Harley." I told her. She looked me over, which seemed odd, but I didn't say anything. I couldn't tell if she was checking me out or just looking me over. 

It was very odd, to be on this end of things. These people who I had fought with, some of whom who I had sent here personally, had personalities. It was weird to see this side of them.

We all boarded a small airplane. Flag told me to get some shuteye, because it was going to be a long flight. I was wary at first. I didn't want to sleep around all these criminals, but eventually I gave in to the temptation of a good night's rest. It had been a long day.


	7. Chapter 6

Ch 6

Qurac was super hot and dry. It was a lot hotter than I expected. It was even hotter in my costume. If only I had stuck with the white costume instead of dark gray.

"Hold up, take a knee." Flag ordered. We were on a ridge overlooking one of the villages that had been destroyed. Flag pulled out some binoculars and surveyed the destroyed buildings below. "Are you seeing this, Deadshot?"

Deadshot was looking down the scope of a large caliber rifle. He nodded.

"Yeah. Damn, whatever it was that wrecked this place did a good job." He replied to Flag.

"Yeah... We're gonna go check it out. Deadshot, you're on over watch. Firefly, you watch his back. The rest of us will check it out."

We went down to the village it was super empty. It was unnerving, actually, how quiet it was. It was a relief when Deadshot's voice rang out on the comm-link.

"We got hostiles around the corner from you. About 8 of 'em."

"Alright. Wait until we engage to attack. Where are they right now?" Flag asked.

"Sitting by a tank. Not sure if it's operational or not."

"Alright. Let me come up with a plan. Keep an eye on them."

I had heard enough of this shit. These soldiers weren't doing anything to us, they were just here investigating the same thing we were. I had to make sure they didn't die. I sneaked away from the group, then grappled to a rooftop.

I spotted the guys. I had to think of something and fast. If I engaged the hostiles, Deadshot would kill at least three of them, even if I knocked each one out with one blow. If I dropped a smoke bomb by them, he would still probably be able to get at least one.

I finally had it. My plan. It was dumb, but it was definitely going to work. I pulled out Kam's pistol. I took aim, right next to the head of one of the soldiers, then fired. They started to shout, then took cover behind the tank. I heard Deadshot cursing on the comm-link, then I made my move.

I jumped down off the building and landed on the tank, rolling as I hit. I rolled off the tank, right onto one of the soldier's heads. They all aimed their assault rifles at me, but I threw a smoke bomb to the ground.

The one I had landed on was now up, but I bashed his head into the tank. I tackled the nearest one, and pounded him in the face with the barrel of my pistol. One of them managed to control his coughing and hit me in the face with the butt of his gun. He took aim, but my finger was faster. I nailed him in the knee with a .45 caliber bullet. He fell on the ground, and I stomped on his head.

I punched another soldier a few times, nailed one in the face with a flying knee, and slammed two more of them into the tank all before the smoke cleared. There was only one man left standing when the smoke was gone.

"Get down!" I shouted, pointing my gun at him. He dropped his assault rifle, put his hands up, and got on his knees.

He spoke something in Arabic, then pulled a picture from his vest. It was a picture of a woman and two children. He spoke more, still in Arabic. It was as though he were begging me not to kill him. Those were his wife and children.

"What the hell was that, Dayhound?" I heard Flag yell as he approached. I spun around to face him. A gunshot was heard in the distance, then my captive's head jarred awkwardly as blood exploded from it.

"No! Shit!" I yelled, rushing over to his body. I cradled his head in my hands. He tried to speak, but his words were mixed up and unrecognizable as language, even if I didn't know Arabic. He stopped talking suddenly, and I realized that he was dead. I placed the picture over his heart and put his hands over it.

"Dayhound, you better respond to me. What the hell were you thinking?" Flag yelled at me more.

"They didn't have to die." I growled quietly.

"I have half the mind to kill you now, you know that?" He yelled, pulling out a pistol and aiming it at me. I aimed my pistol back. Artemis drew an arrow, nocked it, then aimed at me. "You could've compromised everything. If you were too slow, one of them could've called for reinforcements. Hell, one of them might've."

"They didn't have to die!" I roared. Artemis' grip on her bowstring became light.

"Um... We're supposed to be the bad guys, or did you forget?" Quinn said awkwardly.

"Not me." I gritted through my teeth, "I'm not like you."

"That's not what I thought when you was torturing that girl." Quinn said, "Or does your 'code of honor' or whatever only apply when it's convenient for you?"

My hand trembled. I holstered my weapon, then everyone else did the same. I walked away, then heard the sound of gunshots as all the men who I had tried so desperately to save were killed by Flag and the rest of the Suicide Squad.

We set up camp in between the second and third destroyed villages. The second village was in awful shape. It was completely destroyed. There were no soldiers there, because there was nothing to investigate. There was only rubble. I started to have second thoughts about this mission. Whatever metahuman destroyed this place was extremely powerful.

It got cold at night in Qurac, but we had a fire and warm clothes. Harley Quinn must've noticed something was up, because she came over and sat by me.

"Hiya, D." She said, patting my back. I got tense. "How're you doing?"

"Fine." I grumbled. She put her arm around me as she sat down.

"No you're not. I was a psychologist remember? You feel guilty."

"Those men, they didn't have to die. One of them got on his knees, showed me a picture of his family, and begged me not to kill him."

"If we hadn't killed them, then they would've killed us."

"That's why I was trying to attack before you people. I was just going to knock them out."

"That's not how we handle things." She said, placing her other hand on my knee. "Do you miss her? Bertinelli?"

I looked at Quinn for a moment. She was very sexy, but under all that crazy, she was probably quite beautiful. She had long blonde hair that was done in pigtails, up in pigtails. Her face was covered in white makeup and red lipstick to make her look more like the Joker. Her eyes were surprisingly similar to Helena's.

"Everyday." I told her after a while. "I miss her everyday."

"Didja, you know... Love her?"

"Yeah, I did. I loved everything about her. I even killed for her."

"I miss Mistah J too. He's the love of my life."

I stared at her a moment. She was very attached to the Joker for some reason. I had to inquire.

"What do you love about him?" I asked her.

"He's just... You know. He's amazing."

"What do you mean? Explain."

"He's just fantastic!" She told me angrily, "You don't have to pick on me, Dayhound!"

"Hey, you two, what the hell is going on?" Flag yelled over at us.

"Nothing Flag!" Quinn yelled back to him, "I'm going to bed!"

She went over to her tent, then was silent for the rest of the night. I decided that sleeping was a good idea, and followed Quinn's lead.


	8. Chapter 7

Ch 7

"Goddammit!" Deadshot shouted as he took cover. We were in the third town now. We had encountered a small squad of about twenty men. I heard Firefly soar down and fire his flamethrower at the enemies. I sat behind cover with Deadshot, Colonel Flag, and Harley. The three of them were firing at the enemy, but I was not. Quinn came up to me and grabbed my shoulders.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Fight, damn you!"

"I'm not a killer."

"Yes, you are! God, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"You want me to fight? I'll fight!"

I jumped my cover and charged one of the soldiers. I tackled him, snapped his leg, then brought my knee down on his head. I grabbed his assault rifle, tore the clip out, and tossed at my next target. I ran at him, uppercut him on the chin, then drop kicked him into another guy. Both of them went sprawling.

I jumped on one of them and started pounding his head against the ground. The other guy was up now, and pulled me off of his friend. I grabbed his arms and flipped him over me. I punched him in the face a few times to finish him off.

My next guy was a large man holding a LMG. I ran at him, dodging his bullets. I jumped up and grabbed him with my legs. I pulled him to the ground and rolled away. He and I both got up to our feet. He wasn't holding his gun anymore, but he did manage to draw a large knife from his boot. He slashed at me twice, but I dodged both of his swings. At the end of the second one, I grabbed his elbow, then brought my knee into his gut.

He doubled over, but managed to tackle me to the ground. I somehow managed to throw him off, but he slammed me back on the ground. He put a boot on my chest and started to stomp on me. I couldn't do anything but grab my gun and shoot him.

Two of the bullets hit him, one in the shoulder, one in the chest. He fell off of me. I left him laying there. I charged a final man. I jumped in the air and slammed the end of my gun barrel on his face. He stumbled backwards and I kicked him in the head, knocking him totally unconscious. That was the last guy. Quinn came over and hugged me.

"Holy hell, hero!" She said excitedly, "That was incredible."

Bronze Tiger approached Quinn and me. He put his fist against his palm, then bowed like we were about to fight.

"That was very, very good." He complimented, "I didn't see you in action when you took out the men by the tank yesterday, but watching you fight just now, that was something else. I am skilled, but clearly you know how to take out enemies much faster than I. I would love the chance to see how you fare against someone well trained."

"I hate to ruin the party," Flag said as he and the rest of the group came over, "but we need get moving. Larger groups of men means we are getting closer."

Then we heard the explosion. Although it was miles away, we could tell that it was huge. There was smoke in the distance.

"Everyone, get in one of their jeeps." Flag ordered, "We have to get over there now!"

We sped over to the tower of smoke in the sky.

As soon as we got close, a humanoid form slammed down right in front of us. I barely managed to veer out of the way to avoid crashing into it.

The figure stood up. It was as tall as me, but buff. It seemed human, but I couldn't tell because it (he?) wore some kind of black bodysuit.

"Hey man, stop!" Flag yelled to the figure, "We aren't here to hurt you!"

The figure looked at Flag. He flew up about a foot above the ground, then charged him. He picked Flag up with one hand, but Deadshot shot at it. The bullets seemed to bounce off the figure. He tossed Flag, then rushed over to Deadshot. Flag flew about 20 yards, then crashed into the ground, rolling.

Deadshot kept firing, but his bullets weren't doing anything to the figure. He slammed into the man who never misses with his shoulder and sent him skidding across the ground. I charged the figure. He spun around, but I managed to throw the first punch.

It felt like I hit a brick wall, even through my gloves. The figure picked me up by my shirt, but Firefly engulfed him in flames. They didn't do anything but burn part of his bodysuit. Great White tried to grab him, but he threw the giant shark yards away with one hit as though he weighed nothing.

He was just a kid, probably a year or two younger than me. He had short black hair, a strong jaw, and blue eyes. He looked scary familiar. He threw me at one of the jeeps, which knocked me out.

When I came to, almost all the members of the suicide squad were downed. I couldn't tell if any of them were killed, but everyone except for Flag and Firefly were on the ground.

I suddenly realized why this kid looked so familiar. He looked exactly like a young Superman. This gave me an idea.

I shot at him a few times to get his attention. The bullets bounced off, but it worked, and he was now charging me. I quickly put up a magical wall, and the kid slammed right into it. He burst through, but it has definitely hurt him. I blasted him with a lightning bolt, which sent him flying against a building. He grunted, then charged me even faster. I didn't have time to think of another spell. I covered my face, waiting for death, but it never came. I opened my eyes.

A man in a blue and red outfit stood there, holding the kid's fist back. This was the first time I had ever seen this hero in person. He looked like a benevolent God, who came down from the heavens to stop my death. His hair was perfectly done, his features were well chiseled, and he had the muscle tone and mass of some sort of Greek hero.

"Could someone please explain what is going on?" Superman asked, looking at the kid who looked exactly like him. The kid was clearly shocked too, because he looked awestruck.

"Superman?" I asked finally. He turned around, still holding on to his lookalike.

"Ah... Batman's kid... Dayhound, was it? That's right. You taught Supergirl how to fight." He said to me. I didn't know what to do, so I just nodded a lot.

"Great, now we have Superman involved..." Flag said as he got to his feet.

The ride back to Washington seemed quicker than the ride to Qurac. Maybe it was because we had Superman. I was too awestruck by him, I guess.


	9. Chapter 8

Ch 8

Waller and Flag had the members of the Suicide Squad wait in an old abandoned police station. We weren't allowed to leave, but at least we weren't locked up. We had done a good job. I think. Everyone seemed in good spirits, at least.

"Well, another job completed." Deadshot said, once Flag had left us in the police station. "Let's see... That will probably be another ten years off my sentence, that will add up to... Just 523 more years of prison time for me. Calls for a celebration. Yo Bugman, see if you can find any booze."

Firefly grumbled, but still left the room to look for alcohol.

"You ever drink, lover boy?" Deadshot asked me.

"A few times." I told him, "I'm kind of a lightweight."

Everyone laughed at my joke, and Firefly soon returned with a few bottles of a cheap whiskey that he had found. They all cracked open some bottles and started to drink. I sat at a desk. I was still in costume, so my identity was still hidden. I now envied Batman and Nightwing and all of the heroes whose mouths were not covered by scarves like mine was.

"What's the matter, D?" Harley said, coming over to me. She sat on the desk right in front of me and took a drink out of a bottle. She was clearly drunk. "Not much of a drinker."

"No Harley." I told her. "I can't take my mask off."

"Is it glued to your face or somethin'?"

"No. Then you guys will know who I am."

"Who gives a shit?" Deadshot said, coming over to us. "We're all crooks and killers. You really think we care who you are? Maybe 2 years ago, but now you're just one of us."

I rolled my eyes, then held out my hand. Deadshot passed me a bottle of whiskey. I slowly took it, uncapped it, then pulled down my hood and scarf.

"Alright, so you're going for that whole, 'wayward soldier' type look. I gotcha. I dig." Harley said. I looked at her strangely, but then took a drink of my whiskey.

It was a lot different than wine. It tasted awful and it burned my throat. Both of the wines that I had made my throat tingle a little, but with this, I felt like my throat was on fire. I almost spit up back up. Deadshot saw this and started laughing.

"You gonna be alright there, Dayhound?" He laughed out. I nodded.

"Totally." I coughed out. I tried to laugh too, then I took another drink of my bottle. The second drink was a lot less bad than the first. I took a few more drinks.

"How are you feeling, my man?" Bronze Tiger asked as he came over.

"I feel good." I said, laughing. Why was I laughing?

"Good enough for a fight?" Tiger asked me.

"Hell yeah!" I exclaimed. I took a large swig of whiskey, then I got up. Everyone walked into a larger room, what used to be the main entrance hall to the police station. I took off the top half of my costume and Bronze Tiger did the same. We each bowed, then we both took a stance.

I charged him and jumped into the air when I got close. He rolled sideways to avoid my flying kick. I spun around just in time to deflect a few solid punches.

I rolled backwards, avoiding more punches. I ran up to him and tried to superman punch him. He shoved me to the side as he stepped out of the way.

The first contact was made. Bronze Tiger axe kicked me in the head. I fell down to the ground, but rolled away to dodge Tiger's stomping. I got back to my feet and charged him. We both went to the ground, rolling. I ended up on top and managed to hit him with a few punches. He threw some punches of his own, then threw me off.

We were both to our feet. I ran at him, and he pounced at me, swinging his fists wildly. I ducked and grabbed his hips. I threw him over me, then dove into his back. I dropped some elbows down on him, but he managed to spin back over to his back.

He rolled us over so I was on the ground, but I kicked him off. Once we were both back to our feet, I hit him with a flurry of punches, but only about six of them made significant contact before he was able to get his guard up. He tried to punch me, but I slipped it then countered with my own diving punch.

He fell to the ground, but kicked himself back up as soon as he did. I tried to punch him again, but he sidestepped and grabbed my arm. He was going to punch my elbow and break my arm, but he decided against it and just flipped me over his back. He still held onto my arm, and now had me in a deep arm bar. I had no choice but to tap. He let go, then helped me back to my feet.

"I have no idea how to defend against that." I said, catching my breath.

"Batman never taught you jiu jitsu?" He asked, also catching his breath.

"He taught me how to do that shit, but not how to defend it. No one has ever done that to me before."

"I'm going to have to teach you some submission defense then." He laughed, "I will admit, you did have me overwhelmed when we were on our feet. What was that? Boxing?"

"Most of it, yeah. I did mix a little Kung fu in there."

"Oh god... You boys are obsessed." Harley Quinn said, face palming.

"Sorry Quinn, but fighting is my life." Tiger told her, putting his shirt back on. "When I have the opportunity to face someone with such skill, I have to do it."

Quinn shook her head. After I put my costume back on, I went over and grabbed my whiskey, I downed the rest of it, then decided to pass out on one of the cots in the old cells.

I woke up with a start. A woman cried out in the next cell over. I rushed out of my "room" and crashed through the door of the next cell. Quinn was there. She swung her bat at me twice. The first time it nailed me in the shoulder, but I caught it the second time. She dropped it as I caught it.

"Oh God, I am so sorry." She cried out.

"Yeah..." I muttered, "What happened? I heard screaming."

"Oh... Sorry. That was me. It uh... It happens sometimes." She apologized. I handed her the bat back. She tossed it in the corner, then sat on the cot in the cell. I was about to leave, but she started speaking again. "Do you ever have nightmares, Dayhound?"

"Yeah, I do. Everyone does." I said, sitting by her.

"No, but I mean real nightmares. Nightmares that make you wake up in the middle of the night screaming and fighting for your life."

I thought back. I couldn't think of a time when I had woken up like that.

"No. My dreams are usually real. Or have significant real world meaning."

"What the hell are you talkin' about? Are you still drunk?" She asked.

"I might be." I laughed, "No, it's a long story. I can sometimes tell the future with my dreams. Hell, I can even influence certain events in a dream."

"Trippy." Quinn said. I got up to leave, but Quinn grabbed my arm. "Wait, Dayhound, will you please stay with me? Just for a little while..."

Wasn't Harley Quinn supposed to be a heartless, fearless sociopath? That sounded a lot like fear to me. She laid down on her cot, and I laid next to her.

"You got a name?" She asked me once we were settled, "I can't keep calling you 'Dayhound' forever and ever."

"Of course I have a name." I said, "I don't know if I want to tell you though."

"Now why the hell not?" She asked angrily.

"I don't... I don't know. I guess Batman just really... He was really paranoid about shit like that."

"Well stop trying to be him so much. I hate that guy. I don't know why you want to be like him so bad."

I was silent. Part of what she said was right. I shouldn't have been trying so hard to be him. So many people had told me that. Batman had pretty much told me that without saying it. Despite all that, I was still trying to be like the Bat, like my mentor. Still trying to be like my father. Enough was enough.


	10. Chapter 9

Ch 9

"Daniel." I told Harley, "My name is Daniel."

"Daniel. Daniel the Dayhound. Eh... That's alright, I guess. I never saw you as a Daniel really. Especially not after you took your mask-thing off."

"Really?" I laughed, "What did you see me as?"

"I thought of you as more of a John, or a Chris. Maybe it's the beard."

"Well, I usually go by Danny."

She looked at me for a moment.

"Yeah, I can see that one. How old are you?"

"I'm twenty."

"Damn. Only eighteen when you had your first kill."

"No, that wasn't my first kill." I told her. "That was my third."

Why were she and I having this deep conversation? She was supposed to be the bad guy! Hell, her boyfriend murdered my mom! That was a good enough reason to hate her, if any.

"Damn, you're quite the killer."

"No... My first one was kind of an accident. Kind of."

"So you're one of those regretful killers? How old were you?"

"I was sixteen. He murdered my best friend, so I threw him off a ledge. I don't know if I meant to kill him though."

She looked into my eyes, and I looked into hers. We were pretty close to each other. What the hell was going on? Was I getting feelings for Harley Quinn?

"No, you didn't mean to." She said eventually, "I can see it in your eyes. They aren't the eyes of a killer. Even if you have killed a few times."

"Believe me, if you knew anything about me, you wouldn't be saying that."

"Try me." She whispered, leaning in. Our faces were only a few inches apart.

"Okay." I whispered, "I am an incarnation of a magical being called the Arbiter of Death. I am supposed to be some kind of, Grim Reaper, or something."

"Are you really?" She whispered, even quieter, she started to lean in closer. I closed my eyes, preparing to kiss her. We were about to kiss, but the Joker popped into my head. His face and his laugh. He killed my mother. He made Kam kill himself. I quickly sat up on the cot.

"What's wrong?" Quinn asked me, wrapping her arms around me.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this." I told her grimly.

"Why?" She asked, sounding hurt.

"I can't explain. You wouldn't understand."

She laid back down on the bed. I looked over at her. She seemed sad, but I didn't know what to think about her. Without another word from either of us, I stood up, then walked back to my cell. I was actually sad. What the hell was wrong with me? Had I hurt her, or had I hurt myself? Eventually, I did manage to get back to sleep, but not for very long.

"Rise and shine, Dayhound." Rick Flag said, shaking me. I sat up in bed.

"God, what time is it?" I asked, groggily. "My head is killing me."

"Maybe it's that whiskey you drank last night." He said accusingly, "You know that the drinking age in America is twenty one? Last I checked, and I might be mistaken, you were only twenty."

"We were literally fighting extremists in another country yesterday and you're lecturing me about drinking?" I asked him rudely.

"You're right. Who gives a shit about your health?" He snarked sarcastically.

"Like you never drank before you were twenty one."

"Don't talk to me like I am old. I am twenty eight. I am not that much older than you!"

I rolled my eyes, then got out of bed. I threw my hood up, then covered my face with my scarf.

"I don't need you to take care of me, Flag." I told him, "I've been taking care of myself for the past two years."

We left the cell block then headed to the office area, where everyone else was waiting.

"So what the hell was it that kicked the shit out of us, Flag?" Great White asked.

"It was a Kryptonian. Kind of. He was a clone of Superman."

"Wait, hold up." Bronze Tiger said, "People can just clone Superman now?"

"Yes, but not perfectly. They had to use some human DNA to fill in certain gaps."

"It doesn't matter." I said angrily, "He still kicked out asses. Is he the only one?"

"Um... We aren't sure yet. He doesn't speak english. He speaks Arabic. The translator got there as soon as I left. I speak a little, but not enough for an interrogation."

"So what now?" Deadshot asked.

"We have a new mission. We have to go back to Qurac and find the facility where they cloned him, assuming there is only one. I don't know if you people realize this, but this may be the worst thing that could happen. If Qurac has the technology to clone the most powerful man on earth, they could build an army of Supermen. Go collect your things and meet outside. There's a chopper waiting for us to go outside."

Everyone left the room except for me and Flag. I grabbed his arm. He looked at me.

"I know a weakness of superman's. One that isn't as expensive or rare as Kryptonite."

"Do you now? I really want to hear this. May I remind you that you got your ass beat by this clone too."

"That's because I wasn't prepared. Kryptonians are vulnerable to magic."

"Magic! Wow!" He whistled sarcastically, "What's next? Batman can defeat the entire justice league? Or maybe the president is actually a Russian spy?"

"I'm serious Flag. You live in a world where men fly and dress up as bats, and you can't believe in magic? Watch." I said, looking him in the eyes. I waved my hand creating a beam of light that followed it.

"Big deal." Flag said, clearly not impressed, "I saw David Copperfield do the same thing a few years back. As his opening act."

I opened my mouth to speak, but Waller came in soon after. I frowned.

"Wilson." She said, "You have a guest."

A tall, tan skinned girl with emeralds for eyes and fire for hair walked gracefully into the room. When she saw me she smiled. Damn, she was gorgeous.

"Hey Kori." I said with a smile. Koriand'r, Starfire. She was sexy as hell but had the heart of a child. She looked even better than I remembered. She embraced me.

"Friend Daniel! It is so good to see you." She exclaimed. She was happy, but at the same time sounded a little pained.

"You have ten minutes." Waller told us as she and Flag left the room.

"Kori, what are you doing here?" I asked her. She grabbed my hand and then sat me down on a bench. She slid right next to me and locked her arm in mine.

"Daniel… how have you been doing?"

"Honestly, I have been better." I told her honestly.

She sighed.

"Kori," I asked her, "What is wrong?"

"I just… we miss you, Daniel." She said painfully. "Dick's a mess right now. We need you back with the Titans."

"What's wrong with Dick?" I asked, "He's been without me before."

"It's not you. It's Batman. He has completely replaced Dick with a new Robin."

I took a deep sigh. Was Richard Grayson really that hurt by his new replacement?

"We need you. We need you to lead."

"Kori… I can't." I told her, "I may not be behind bars, but I am still a prisoner."

"Nonsense!" Kori insisted, "We are the Titans! Nothing can stop us!"

I smiled painfully.

"Not this time." I muttered. God, Kori, why did you have to be like this? So damn innocent... "I'm not a Titan. Not anymore."

"Daniel, my beloved friend, please!" She begged, "We need you. I need you. You're the only one who can help Dick."

"Kori, you don't get it." I said, trying to remain calm, "if I don't do as they say, they'll kill me. There are nanites, little robots, inside of me. They will kill me if I make the wrong move."

"Friend Daniel-" she started to say. Flag entered and interrupted.

"Alright, times up." Said he.

"Please Colonel Flag, if I may-"

"Sorry girl, we are running a tight schedule." He said. He placed a hand on her back, and calmly escorted her from the room. He returned a few minutes later.

"Girlfriend?" He asked me.

"No" I told him, "She's just a friend."

"Yeah, right…" he said, "No one is 'just friends' with a girl like that."

I felt frustrated. I definitely did think Kori was gorgeous and super hot, but that was unhelpable. Koriand'r and I were definitely just friends. She was my best friend, surprisingly. I was super attracted to her, but I definitely could not date her. It would feel too weird.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"It has to be around here somewhere…" Flag insisted. The hot sun of Qurac beat down heavy upon us. I felt myself sweating again, once more regretting my decision to change my costume from white to gray. Probably the most comfortable was Rick Flag himself, who was just wearing typical desert camouflage. Harley wasn't wearing a ton, but she was definitely getting sunburnt. Artemis had too much leather on.

What the hell happened between me and Harley? I hadn't thought about it much, but she hadn't really talked to me since I decided not to kiss her back in the Jail.

"Flag, if he is anything like Superman, he could have come from miles away. Hell, he could not even be from Qurac." Deadshot said.

"No he is from here." Flag insisted, "He spoke Arabic, specifically, a Quracan dialect of Arabic."

"Great…" I complained, "Just what we need. A terrorist Superman."

"Calm down Dayhound," Flag reprimanded, "We can't afford to jump to any conclusions. Not yet at least."

"Yeah, because if _I _was a country as friendly to the U.S. as Qurac, I would _definitely _be cloning Superman to just be their friend." Great White said sarcastically. He really hadn't said much this whole trip, let alone something sarcastic. This heat must have been really getting to the amphibious man…

Suddenly, machine gun fire came from a dune to our left. We all dove to the ground.

"Everyone take cover!" Flag ordered.

"Behind what?" Harley screeched, whipping out a pistol and returning fire on the Jeep that appeared out of nowhere.

"Harley, cover me." I ordered. She didn't say anything, but I took her silence as agreement. Flag, Deadshot, and the rest also started shooting back at the 3 jeeps that had appeared suddenly.

I stood up and started sprinting towards the jeeps. I concentrating on building up enough energy to us my powers.

I hadn't done magic in a good long while. Within the past two years I hadn't done anything magic until that fight with the Superman clone. Before that, I wasn't sure if I even still could.

I drop kicked the side of the nearest Jeep, unsure of exactly what would happen. I felt the energy flow through me and power my kick, sending the Jeep rolling and all its inhabitants flying. The rest of the guys started screeching in Arabic, and turned their assault rifles on me. Shit.

I whipped out my pistol and fired a few shots randomly. They yelled more and started to take cover behind their jeeps. I heard Flag yell to charge.

I leapt up onto the roll cage of one of the jeeps, and flip-kicked the guy nearest. He slammed against the Jeep with strong force. I grabbed the gun of the other guy and wrenched it out of his hand. I beat him a few times with the butt of the gun, and kicked him in the chest. He went rolling down the dune. I heard more gun fire, one of the jeeps went flying, and then it all ceased.

"Nice work Dayhound." Flag said, patting me on the back. "I can't believe I am saying this, but I am glad you kept some alive. Now we can interrogate some of them."

The interrogation process was boring, honestly. It consisted of Artemis talking to them in Arabic (which apparently she knew?) and Great White scaring them. The first few, the ones from the Jeep I toppled, didn't know anything. Neither did the one who I bashed against the Jeep. The one who took a tumble down the dunes, however, was an officer. He didn't know much, but he did know where a base was, likely the base that we were looking for.

The jeeps made travel a lot faster, but we decided to stop and make camp. According to the officer's directions, we were still about a day's journey away from the base.

I still felt awkward about Harley. What was her deal? What was my deal? Why did I care so much? It didn't make any sense to me. I would think about it and about her and then I would realize it didn't make any sense. But I still cared way too much. And she still hadn't spoken to me since.

A hand grabbed my shoulder suddenly. I almost flipped whoever it was over and clubbed their face in, but I realized it was Bronze Tiger. He sat down next to me by the fire.

"What is on your mind, my friend?" He asked me.

"Nothing." I replied calmly, lying once more. He just laughed.

"Come now." He insisted, "I know that you are incapable of telling the truth, but I know when something is wrong. Especially in another martial artist."

"What is it with you and 'other martial artists'? Like, how can you tell this stuff?"

"For me," he explained, "Martial arts in inside. Everything about it. It is called chi. When you arrive at the point that I am at, you can feel the chi everywhere. The more skill a man has in martial arts, the more chi he can summon up to enhance his skill. But it makes that man more susceptible to having their chi read."

"I don't believe in your religion or whatever it is. Chi." I told him. He just laughed.

"At least I believe in something." He said lightly. "You should talk to Quinn."

I felt my face go hot. I pulled my scarf up more to cover my blushing. How did he know? He laughed even more, then took a drink of a flask that he pulled from his pocket.

"You may not believe in my 'religion' but I am certainly right. Her tent is over there. Go talk to her."

I stood up from by the fire and made my way over to Harley's tent. The temperature change was significant away from the fire, getting way colder. Despite that, I felt very hot and nervous still.

I opened the tent door slightly.

"Harley?" I asked quietly. No response. I felt like leaving and just leaving it at that. I exhaled, then stepped through the flaps of the tent door.

I waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness of the tent, then moved silently to the place where I saw her sleeping. I knelt down by her and shook her a little.

"Harley?" I asked. The lump was cold and squishy. It was literally just cloth. Where was Harley?

Suddenly, an arm wrapped around my neck from behind. The grip tightened and I couldn't breathe. I jumped backwards, landing on top of my attacker. I felt the grip go loose, and I rolled off of whoever it was, gasping for air. I felt someone jump on my hips, and two hands wrapped around my neck, strangling me. It was Quinn. Her curved figure and pig tails shadowed over me. My head felt light. I had to do something.

I punched her in the face a few times. She squeezed harder on my throat. I felt like I was about to pass out. I needed to think fast!

I grabbed her hair and pulled down hard. Her grip loosened, just a little bit. I brought an elbow down on the top of her head. I wrapped my legs around her hips, and maneuvered my way around her to her side. I shoved her to her back, then climbed on top of her.

She scratched at my face, pulling my mask and hood off. I punched her a few times in the face. She scratched me on the cheek. I grabbed her wrists, then pinned her arms down.

"Now choke me, Danny." She whispered in my ear. I was super confused.

"What?"

"Choke me you bastard." She commanded. She started biting my ear. Not hard enough to do any damage, but it was definitely not normal.

I let go of her arms, and started to get back up. I gave her a confused look. She wrapped her arms and legs around me and pulled me back down.

"Harley stop." I said. She laughed and started biting my neck. I grabbed her head and pushed her face away from me.

"What the hell are you doing?" I whispered angrily.

"What do you think I am doing, you sexy son of a bitch?"

I shoved her away from me, and sat down. Luckily, she didn't make another move.

"What's wrong, honey?" She asked seductively, "Did mommy play too rough for you?"

I finally got a good look at her. Luckily, she was still wearing clothes, but that really wasn't saying that much.

"Harley, we can't do this."

"Sure we can, baby…" she told me as she started crawling over to me.

A thought finally occurred to me.

"What about Joker, Harley?"


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Oh goodness Danny," She said, clearly frustrated, "Please don't bring him up…"

"But I thought you loved him." I said, acting naive.

"Don't bring him up." Harley said angrily. "You don't know how long it's been since I've done it. Let me have this."

"No, Harley." I said firmly. How did she get on top of me again?

"Why not?" She asked quietly. I waited for a second. I expected her to make some kind of move, but she just waited there. Her hand was on my chest, her fingers tracing my Pecs. Her pigtails hung over my head. I could see down her shirt a little bit. Were my hands on her hips? How did they get there?

"I… well… we… um… you know..." I stammered.

"Danny, I won't do it if you don't want to. But I haven't had sex in forever. I can't imagine you have either…"

I was at a loss for words. She was right…

"Stop me if you don't want me…" She said, kissing my neck. I gasped a little. I squeezed her butt. She giggled cutely. I couldn't believe I was about to sleep with Harley Quinn…

"Danny…" I heard Quinn ask.

I opened my eyes. She and I were in the same sleeping bag. She was super close to me. Her blue eyes stared into mine. They reminded me a lot of Helena's.

"Yeah Harley?"

"I um… I had a bad dream." She said quietly, almost as though she were ashamed of it.

"What was it about?"

"Well… it was about Mistah J…"

"Do you have a lot of nightmares about him?"

"Don't pick on me…"

"Harley, are you serious? We just did it and you are accusing me of picking on you?"

She smiled, then kissed me.

"In my nightmare," she said, "Mistah J was chasin' me. With an ax."

"And what happened?"

"You came. And you killed him."

"And what was the scary part?"

"I can't decide."

I stared at her for a little bit. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.

Somewhere along the line I dozed off again. I woke up in my own tent. I knew that last night had happened, but I guess Harley got tired of me in her tent.

The morning was hot. We got back on the road as soon as we could. We were close, according the the soldier's directions.

"Hey Flag," Great White yelled, "Are we almost there? I'm dyin' over here!"

Colonel Flag pulled up a device that looked like a phone. He pressed a button on it and a hologram of the area appeared above it."

"That's new…" I said to him.

"Technology can change a lot in 2 years." He replied to me, "Especially when you're cooped up in Arkham.

"We should be… right on top of it."

Suddenly, the sand shifted. The ground began to shake. Four large turrets popped out of the ground. A voice, speaking Arabic, echoed from one of them.

"He says to drop our weapons, and we won't be harmed." Flag translated.

"Like hell I will!" Deadshot exclaimed, shifting his aim between the four turrets.

The voice sounded again. Although I spoke literally zero Arabic, I definitely understood that the voice was counting down. I loosed my pistol from my belt and threw it on the ground. There was no way I was gonna die here. Deadshot came to his senses and dropped his guns along with everyone else.

A moment after we dropped our guns, about 15 armed guards came up from an elevator that opened up in the sand. One of them ordered us, in English, to get on our knees. The only one who didn't was Harley. She didn't want to burn her bare knees on the hot sand. One of the guards hit her in the back with his rifle, knocking her down.

My blood boiled. I started to stand up, but the guard closest to me bashed me in the face with the butt of his rifle, sending me sprawling in the sand. I blacked out.

The first thing I heard when I awoke was someone speaking Arabic above me. My eyes flipped open. I was unmasked, but otherwise still in costume.

"Calm. Calm." An man said above me in a heavy accent. I examined our surroundings. It was just this man and me in a small cell.

"Where are my friends?" I asked him groggily. Did I just call them my friends?

"No." He replied to me.

"No? No, you don't know where they are, or no you aren't gonna tell me?"

He started speaking Arabic to me.

"I don't understand. I'm sorry." I told him.

"You, Alone. No one here."

"No one else has come in here? They only brought me?"

"Yes."

I slowly stood up. I had a horrible headache from the guard's rifle. The man, my cellmate, stood up with me. I pulled my hood and scarf up to cover my face. I am not sure why I always did that, but I felt… safer.

"How do we get out of here?" I growled my cellmate.

"Change speak?" He asked. He was clearly commenting on my "Dayhound voice."

"Don't worry about it. How do we get out of here?"

"No. No out way."

I sighed. I figured I could probably use magic to get out of here. I examined the door.

It was your typical cell door, but the lock was super old. One of those locks that you can see all the way through. This would be easy as hell.

"You ready to get out of here…" I asked the man. I realized I didn't know his name. "What is your name?"

"Ali." He replied. "You Name?"

"Dayhound."

"What?"

"Dayhound."

"What? No Understand."

"Ugh… just call me Daniel."

"Good meet you, Daniel."

I focused my energy on the lock. It felt very distant. I started to feel nauseous. Maybe that hit to the head was a little harder than I thought. I sighed. Looks like i had to try a different magic…

"kcolnu." I uttered. I hated using Mnemonic Incantation, but I had to admit, it worked. Zatanna always used it, but she was sharper than I was, and could come up with the backwards words faster than I could.

The lock clicked and the cell door swung open.

"Follow." Ali told me, as he squeezed passed me. I was confused. Where was he leading me? Despite my confusion, I still unconsciously followed him.

Ali was a lot more interesting that I first thought. He was an expert in stealth. He knew where all the cameras are, and he knew exactly how to avoid them. We reached the end of a corridor, and he stopped, pointing at the door.

"Open." He told me. I shot him a confused look, but he just pointed and repeated saying the word "Open."

I aimed a hand at the door.

"kcolnu" I uttered. The door clicked, and Ali opened it.

It was some kind of armory. Or evidence lockup or something. My gun was sitting on a shelf, next to everyone else's weapons. I grabbed a few weapons, but I couldn't carry them all. Ali just grabbed a ceremonial looking knife and nodded at me.

"Do you know where my friends are?"

"Follow."

He started down the corridors in the same stealthy manner as before. I, luckily, was able to keep up, but I could definitely tell that my 2 years in Arkham had taken a toll on my stealth abilities. After what seemed like forever of sneaking around corridors, we heard voices.

"Where did you take our 'project?'" A slightly accented voice said.

"Like… hell I would… tell you!" I heard Flag say. He was panting, as though he were exhausted.

"Wrong answer, Colonel." The other man said. I heard electricity sparking and Flag screaming. I had to do something.

I unholstered my revolver, but Ali grabbed my wrist with surprising strength.

"No." He whispered, "No shoot. Only no sound."

He didn't want me to make any noise. I nodded and pointed at his dagger. He looked at it, pulled it close to his chest, and shook his head.

Great. He wasn't gonna give me his knife. I was gonna have to find something else to hit him with…

I peeked around the corner. There were two more guards, each holding a riot shield and a curved sword. What was this, the crusades?

I took a deep breath. The doctor-person was holding a stun stick in his hand. Flag seemed to have passed out. Ok… I needed a plan.

I charged into the room, leaping into the air, and kicking the doctor in the face. He went sprawling, dropping his stun stick. I grabbed it quickly and charged the guards. They got ready for my attack.

I ran up the shield of one, and came crashing down on his head. I shocked him a few times with the stun stick, but got bashed in the face by the other guard. I jumped up, and swept the legs of the other guard. I jumped on top of him and zapped him a few times until he was out cold.

"Flag, you ok?" I asked as I approached him.

He tried to say something but was coughing too hard.

"What?"

"Your six!" He sputtered out.

I whirled around, just in time to see the Doctor guy swinging a sword toward me. I threw up the stun stick to deflect the block. It snapped in half, shocking both me and the doctor.

I staggered backwards, the electricity from the stick halves still sending their paralyzing arcs through my body. The doctor was back to his feet, sword in hand, charging me. I wildly swung one of the sticks towards him. The electricity shocked him and the impact forced it out of my hand. The circuit was broken, I could move again.

I took a few gasps of air, but I couldn't rest long because there was a large curved sword coming straight for my neck. I narrowly avoided the slash and sent a powerful uppercut toward my assailant's chin. He staggered backwards. I shot him with my grapple gun. I yanked hard on the rope, sending him stumbling in my direction. I clotheslined him in the face and he hit the ground with a loud "thud!"

"Frick, Wilson," Flag exclaimed, "thought you were a Gonner there!"

"You… wish." I said panting.

"Actually, you don't know how happy I am to see you."

Ali came around the corner and loosed Flag from the table he was strapped to while I caught my breath.

"Who is this guy?" He asked me.

"Ali. Flag, talk to him. He speaks only Arabic."

The Colonel started to speak to Ali in his… less than perfect Arabic. While he DID know a lot more of the Semetic tongue than I, Artemis was definitely more capable of speaking the language than Flag. However, Ali was starting to look very confused. He said a few words back, and Flag looked more confused than our Quracian friend.

"I don't know what he's saying," Flag told me, "but it ain't any Arabic that I know."

"No speak." Ali said, shaking his hand. "Only some."


	13. Chapter 12

Ch 12

"What does that mean?" I asked Flag

"Hell if I know." He replied to me, "all I know is that Ali doesn't speak too much Arabic."

"Do you know where the others are?"

"No, not besides Artemis. She was in the same cell as me. I know if we get my communication device we can track them though."

I removed a small, phone shaped device from my pocket and tossed it to him. He caught it and began to push buttons.

"Looks like everyone is in a cell block west of here." He told us.

"Ali, do you know where the cell block is?" I asked the strange man. He just shot me a confused look.

"Where are the prisoners?" Flag asked him.

"Follow." He replied, as he started around the corner. Flag shot me a look that instantly told me that he didn't trust this guy. I shouldn't have either, but I just felt really good about him for some reason.

Ali was amazing at sneaking. He would sneak past guards and cameras like it was nothing. He was a ghost in the shadow, whereas He made Flag and Me seem like elephants. He was just as good, if not better at stealth than Batman himself! Before too long, we were at the cell block.

"Ok," Flag whispered, "I count… 10 guards. Dan- Dayhound, you take the guys in those 4 lookout booths, I'll take out the three on the left. Ali can you- wait, where the hell did he go?"

I scanned the room. Nothing. I fired my grapple at the ceiling and zipped up silently, scanning the room from my new vantage point. I still saw nothing.

"Flag," I muttered into my communicator, "he's not here. We will have to go at it solo."

"Damn. Ok. Same plan. Take out those lookouts, I'll take out mine, then we will take out the others together."

I swung towards the nearest lookout booth. I landed on top of the guard in there and clubbed him in the face with my forearm. I rushed silently towards the door, into the hallway, and through the door to the other lookout booth on this side of the room.

I kicked the lookout in the booth in the back of the legs and slammed his head into the concrete railing on the booth.

"This side's clear. Make your move." I told Flag over comms.

I shot my grapple at one of the light fixtures over the room and swung on it. I landed on top of the guard in the booth on the opposite side of the room, leapt off of him, ran along the wall, and nailed the other guard with a huge punch.

"This side's clear."

"Dayhound, they know we're in here."

"What how?"

"I don't know. I just heard them over their comms. They're breaching the room in 30 seconds."

"Well… we gotta get those cells open."

"We don't know who's our guys or not." Flag protested.

"Well… we're just gonna have to take that chance then…"

I dropped down on top of the control box, smashing through the glass roof. The guard inside flipped around, fumbling with his pistol. He staggered, clearly drunk. He fired a shot, but missed. I charged, elbowing him in the temple. He stumbled to the right. I slammed his head against the controls, then yanked the big lever. I had no idea what it said, cause the directions were in Arabic, but I figured that it was the "open all cells" lever.

Fortunately, I was right. Unfortunately, it also activated a very loud alarm.

Voices were heard. There were about 10 cells, and 2 people per cell except for one of them, which only had Artemis.

I heard the clatter of assault rifles as men entered the room. I crashed through the glass of the control booth, landing on top of a soldier. I drew my pistol and bashed him in the face with the handle a few times. I looked up to see Quinn trying to wrestle a rifle away from an assailant. I shot at his feet. He cried out in pain as the bullet entered his foot. Quinn stomped the foot, snatched the rifle from his hand, and fired a small burst of lead into his torso.

"Quinn!" I roared, "we have to get the others! Don't worry about killing them!"

She flipped me off and called me a buzzkill. We charged 4 of the soldiers on the other side of the room. They turned their guns on us. I fired a few random shots. Didn't hit anyone, but it was enough to make them flinch. I chucked my gun at the nearest one, hitting him in the face as he was firing. His shot redirected as he staggered, sending a few bullets into the leg of one of his comrades.

I jumped through the air, nailing the injured warrior in the face with a kick. I spun around, sweeping the legs of the other out from under him. I retrieved my pistol from the ground and turned it on a 3rd guard.

Unfortunately for me, his rifle was trained on me. He barked an order in Arabic at me, but he seemed to have forgotten about Quinn, who shot him 3 times in the body and once in the head with an AK-47.

Bronze Tiger pounced down from the upper balcony, landing right behind the fourth guard. In one swift motion, he snapped the soldier's neck.

"Good to see you Dayhound."

I nodded, then threw him his brass knuckles I had taken from the armory. He smiled as he put them on.

"The others are upstairs. Quinn and i will handle the rest of the guards down here."

I nodded once, then zipped up to the upper level of the cell block with my grapple gun.

Great White tossed a guy off the balcony. I saw Artemis doing some impressive hand-to-hand on 3 guards. Deadshot was nearby me.

"Lawton!" I yelled. He spun around. I tossed him his two wrist pistols. He smiled, donned the two small guns, then fired about 5 shots, each one dropping one of the guards.

"You wouldn't happen to have my flamethrower, would you?" Firefly asked, almost angrily. I shrugged, then looked around the room.

Flag was on the other side of the room, trying to fight three guys all armed with large knives. I shot my grapple at the ceiling, then swung over to him.

"Bout time you showed up." He joked, as we stood back to back. Three more guards, armed with scimitars, joined the fray.

"I think it's about time we really see if you have my back." I said lightheartedly to Flag.

"You know, it'd be a lot easier if you would shoot these clowns." He replied.

"Only have 2 shots left." I joked to him. The guards circled us, almost seeming afraid to make the first move.

"Disarm one, throw me the sword." Flag ordered, as he charged the guy nearest to him. I didn't bother to see what he was trying to do.

I lunged at one of the guards in front of me. He slashed with his sword, but I threw up my arm and caught it between one of the spikes on my gauntlet. I struck the man in the face, then threw him over me by his wrist. I took the blade as he fell, then tossed it to Flag, who caught the hilt, and, in one swift motion, cut the throat of the guard he was fighting.

An arm wrapped around my neck from the back. I felt the man behind me step back, preparing to impale me with his knife. I took my gun from the holster and fired it up into the arm around my neck. Thick blood splattered onto my face and the man withdrew the injured arm, cursing in his native tongue. I spun around swiftly, kicking as I did. My foot made contact with his chin and sent him sprawling to the ground.

I turned quickly around, just in time to dodge another stab from a swordsman. I grabbed his arm from the back and struck it firmly with my palm. It bent the wrong way with a spine-tingling crunching sound. The man cried out, dropping his blade and clutching his broken arm. I grabbed the sword by the blade as it fell, then bashed the man in the face with the hilt.

I turned back to Flag just in time to see him plunging his scimitar into the heart of the last guard.

"You know, Wilson," He said, smirking, "We make a good team."

I nodded my head.

"We _do _make a good team."

"Wow, actually agreeing with me for once!" He sarcastically laughed, "I think I'm starting to grow on you."

The alarm suddenly stopped. I surveyed the room. Most of the guards had been killed by the rest of the Suicide Squad. The rest were either knocked out by me, or being placed into cells by Great White and Bronze Tiger. Colonel Flag gave the order to regroup.

We went over the new plan. Artemis has been able to download the schematics of the base from the computer in the control booth. There seemed to be a large room nearby that had a label of Project Kryptonite. You didn't have to be the world's greatest detective to know that was probably where the Super-clone came from. Odds are, there would be more, but probably not as developed as the kid we ran into in the desert. The Quracians seemed pretty upset about losing that one. The only problem is that the room only had two entrances, on completely opposite sides of the base.

We decided our best option was a full frontal assault.


	14. Chapter 13

Ch 13

"You ready?" Flag whispered to me, as we stood next to the doors to the entrance of the cloning room. I checked Kam's revolver to double check if it was loaded. I took a deep breath.

"Look, i know you don't like it, but any guards who didn't attack us in the cell block are gonna be in there. They're gonna be heavily armed. They know we are coming from this side. It's gonna be a firefight."

I was silent.

"Look, Dayhound, i need to know if you have our back."

"Of course he doesn't, Flag," Deadshot whispered angrily, "Guy's a Boy Scout. He ain't gonna kill anyone."

"Shut the hell up, Lawton." Flag protested. He turned back to me, "Dayhound, can I count on you to aim to kill?"

"Do I have an option?"

"Yes, of course you do! I am on your damn side. I've been telling you the whole time!"

I thought about it for a moment.

"I will. On one condition."

"What is it?" He asked cautiously. This was my trump card. I knew that Flag and the Suicide Squad couldn't do this without me. I saw Artemis tense up and grab the handle of her knife.

"I need a vacation. I have some stuff I gotta do."

"Colonel, we don't need to negotiate with this criminal."

My blood boiled. My grip tensed up in my pistol. Flag shot Artemis an angry look and he ordered her to shut up. She did.

"You have yourself a deal. Great White, you ready?"

The massive shark-man grabbed the blast door and shoved hard. The door tore through the wall, off its hinges. Machine gun fire went off through the other side as Great White charged, using the door as a shield from the billets. He crashed through the guards and into the wall on the other side.

"Attack!" Flag yelled. We entered the room. I shot at the first man I saw. His head jerked and blood splattered. I dove behind a computer bay as his comrade fired at me. I looked up from cover and fired two shots wildly in his direction. Both made contact with his torso, and he fell to the ground.

A hand grabbed the back of my neck from the other side of my cover and yanked me over the top. A huge man looked over me, plunging a blade downward. I blocked it with my pistol, redirecting it towards my right. I aimed upward at the brute, but he used his free hand to slap the gun as I took the shot. It missed and he raised the sword up for another stab.

I rolled out of the way. He hit the steel ground hard, breaking his sword in two. He cursed in Arabic, then slashed his shortened blade at me. I dodged back, the blade cutting the skin on the bridge of my nose. I fired my last two shots under his sword, hitting him twice in the torso.

I was officially out of ammo in my gun. I made a mental note to ask Flag for some speedloaders later, seeing as my revolver would take way too long to reload.

I charged a guy holding an assault rifle. He was behind cover, but I dove over it. He was clearly surprised. I hit his head against the wall, and took his gun. I fired a shot into his head, then charged a small group of guards.

They panicked as I fired a burst of shots off in their direction. Three of the five dropped, but my gun was empty. The remaining two aimed their rifles at me, but were taken out by two shots through their temples. I turned to see Floyd Lawton with a smoking gun in his hand.

"Thanks." I said to him.

"Don't mention it." He replied.

All the guards were dead, giving us a chance to look around. There really wasn't anything unusual about this room. It was smaller than the plans showed.

"We're missing something." Bronze Tiger said, "I can feel it."

"Alright. Everyone, look around." Flag ordered. Everyone started to look around.

Harley turned to me.

"Hey… you did a good job there." She said, "That's gonna scar on your nose probably."

I didn't realize how much blood was running out of the cut on my nose. Harley giggled and wiped most of it off.

"Thanks… I um…" I started to say.

"You don't have to say anything." She said. She licked the cut on my nose, and laughed. I thought it was weird, but it did turn me on a little. "We'll talk later, yeah?"

All I could do was nod. She had me wrapped around her finger. Although she was 10 years older than me, she had a certain air about her that just drew me to her. It felt wrong, but I really liked it. Honestly, it was mostly sexual though, as unwilling as I am to admit that. It felt kind of like my attraction to Koriand'r, but Harley was definitely less innocent.

Artemis found a lever that opened up a panel on the ground. It was an elevator, with three buttons: up, middle, down. The up bottom probably took us back to the surface, but the mission wasn't over. We all got on the elevator, and Flag pushed the down button.

The large room started off dark. We readied our weapons, prepared for a fight. The lights came on, revealing a shocking sight.

The room was tall and long. It was a special cell block. Each cell was padded on the inside, except for the plexiglass fronts. The lights in the cells were a bright shade of green. Each wall was 3 cells high, and they went on for probably a quarter of a mile.

I walked over to one of the cells. There was a kid, probably no older than 7, laying on the ground, trembling. He had dark hair and blue-green eyes. I walked over to the next cell, then the next. All the kids looked the exact same, but they were more or less younger or older. The oldest had to be 10, the youngest, 3.

"What the hell is this place?" I asked.

"It looks like where they keep their Superman clones." Flag said to me. "How do they contain them?"

"The lights." I replied, "They probably emit a similar radiation wave to Kryptonite."

"We need to look around more…"

Flag ordered everyone except for Artemis and me, to stay back towards the elevator. It was honestly a smart move. These were unstable criminals, after all. The three of us walked toward the end of the hall of cells. There was a large computer bay on the wall, not unlike the batcomputer. Each screen, except for two, flipped between a camera feed in each cell.

One of the other ones scrolled through a ton of information. It looked like a log, but I couldn't read it, because it was in Arabic. The other screen had a list of options to select, unsurprisingly, all in Arabic.

Artemis scanned the log for a few minutes.

"It's a log of something called 'Project Kryptonite.' Basically, in fear of American-Friendly superheroes, the Qurac Government decided to build their own army of Superman clones. They aren't perfect, because of the fact that Superman's DNA is so alien that they can't clone it without filling in a few gaps with human DNA. A lot of gaps. They are basically just humans who look like Superman, but they have Superhuman abilities. All they've been able to observe though is superhuman strength and invulnerability. But the most advanced subject, the one we captured, was not fully developed yet."

"Download that log onto this drive. How do we shut it down?" Flag asked

Artemis plugged the drive into the computer, and clicked one of the options, then clicked a different one.

"Um… can we talk, Colonel?" She said to him, after reading the page that popped up.

"Yeah, sure. Talk to me." He said, laughing.

"I mean, without _him._" She protested, motioning to me.

"Artemis, I trust Wilson just as much as I trust you. Anything you can say to me, you can say to him."

She sighed.

"The clones aren't stable until the age of 15. If we shut it down, they will die within minutes. I **can** stabilize them, but… I am not sure that's in the best interests of the ARGUS."

Flag thought about it for a minute. He looked at me. He already knew that i was not gonna let him kill all these kids if I could help it.

"Dayhound-" He started to say.

"We aren't _killing_ them. That's not what I signed up for." I interrupted.

"They aren't really people." Artemis said coldly.

"You bitch!" I roared at her. She opened her mouth to speak, but I drew my pistol and smacked her in the chin before she could do anything, knocking her out cold. I turned my gun on Flag. He put his hands up slowly.

"Now Wilson, think about this for a moment."

"I already killed for you today. I'm not gonna slaughter innocent kids." I growled at him. I walked around him, slammed his head into the computer and placed the barrel of my pistol on the back of his head.

"Wilson-" he started to say.

"Shut the hell up!" I snarled, "How do i stabilize the clones?"

He looked for a moment at the now slightly cracked computer screen.

"Push that button. Then that one." He told me. I followed his directions. An alarm started going off. The kids started crying and gagging. They were dying! He tricked me!

I slammed his face into the computer, then shoved him against a wall. He didn't do anything. I pressed my gun against the bottom of his chin.

"You murderer!" I roared ferociously. I pulled the hammer back on my gun. My finger hovered over the trigger.

"Wilson, wait!" He said calmly, holding up a device. He clicked and held down the button.

"This is the trigger for the nanites in your system. As soon as my finger stops applying pressure to this button, you die. Now think about it. You've already saved the day, do you really want to die right now? You're young. You're a hot shot. You still have time to fall in love again. You can still be a hero."

I paused. He was right. But those kids. Who cared if they were clones? They were still suffering right now, as real as any other kid.

Suddenly, Artemis struck me from behind with the back of an assault rifle, knocking me out cold.

I woke up handcuffed on the ground of a tent. Flag sat across from me, twirling a large combat knife in his hands. Once he was that I was awake, he stood up.

"Wilson, do you know how I got to be in charge of Task Force X?" He asked, pacing the room slowly. I knew what he was trying to do, he was trying to intimidate me. I stayed silent. I wasn't gonna give him the satisfaction of a reaction.

"The Suicide Squad was Waller's idea. She thought about it years ago, probably 10, around the time Superman became official. She saw the power that these Superhumans had, and she knew that we needed a way to combat it. Before Superman, there was only Batman. The government could deal with that. But Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, they were all something else. We figured the only guys who could take them out was other superhumans."

"Get to the point Flag, you can't intimidate me." I growled at him. He laughed. He thought he was in control here.

"Well, Waller had the idea of controlling criminals with fear and… incentives. But, to… remind these convicts of their place in this world, She needed a commander. She needed the most brutal leader the US military could offer. You see Wilson, I made the hard decisions. Sacrificed American lives for the good of our nation, at whatever cost. I was born for this job."

"You're not a hero, Flag. You wouldn't have killed those kids if you were."

"You're right, I'm not. You know why? A hero is someone who gets himself and others killed trying to do what he thinks is right. I am a soldier. You'd do well to remember that."

He unlocked the handcuffs, and handed me my gun.

"Once we get back to the US, get the hell out of my sight. Go back to California, or wherever the hell your business is. We'll contact you."

"Are you gonna forget about me once we get back to the States?" Harley asked me, her finger tracing the muscles on my abs. I kissed her neck roughly, then pulled her naked, sweaty body on top of me.

"What do you think?" I told her, smiling. She smiled back, then went down so her face was level with my chest. She bit down hard on my left pec. It hurt quite a bit. I laughed, then pulled her hair slightly. She giggled and crawled back up to my face. Her mouth was covered in my blood.

"There," She said smugly, "now you can't forget me."

"Are you gonna forget me when we get back?" I asked her as I ran my right hand down her spine, stopping just before I reached her butt.

"Depends." She flirted, "Are you gonna bite me if I say yes?"

I smiled, then rolled on top of her. She giggled. I crawled down and, almost animalistically, bit her left hip hard. I felt her warm blood enter my mouth, and looked up at my handy work. Satisfied, I rolled off of her.

"I got a question for ya, before you go to sleep." Harley said. I rolled so that i was facing her. She traced her finger along the bite mark that she had left on my chest.

"How did it feel when you killed those guys? At the base?" She asked me.

"Honestly…" i said, thinking about it, "I didn't feel anything. Like, I really… didn't care."

"You're so… different from him." She said, almost whispering, "Why do i like you?"

I knew who she was talking about. The Joker. I frowned. She looked surprised.

"No, i didn't mean it like that." She said, "I just, I've never felt this way before. I thought I felt it with Mistah J, but… it's not the same. It's good."

I felt bad. Honestly, I didn't know how I felt about Harley, but it was definitely a lot sexual attraction. She clearly liked me though. A lot.

I pushed that out of my mind, and kissed her forehead, then, pulling her close, we drifted off to sleep.


	15. Chapter 14

Ch 14

I loved San Francisco. Although the most horrible thing that had ever happened to me happened here, it was still the city that I loved the most.

Getting off the plane felt so good. I felt like a free man again, even though officially I was not. I didn't know how I was gonna get to the Titans Tower. I didn't even know if I would be accepted there. I felt super nervous all of the sudden. I decided to go to a pay phone.

"Wayne Residence." Alfred said on the other side of the phone.

"Alfred, how the hell are you?" I said to him cheerfully.

"Language, Master Daniel." Alfred said, "It is so good to hear your voice. What can I do for you? Where are you at currently?"

"I'm in San Francisco." I told him, "I think I'll pick up a girl here or something. Maybe a guy. It _is _San Francisco, after all."

"Well, i am sure we would accept either here." Alfred said, laughing. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yeah, actually. Um… I kind of need a favor."

"What would that be?"

"I need money… enough to buy a car."

Alfred sighed.

"Go to the nearest Wayne Incorporated Bank. I will let them know you're on the way."

"Thanks Alfred, you're the best! Love you!"

"Equally, sir." He laughed. I hung up and started walking to the bank.

Thankfully, Alfred knew I wanted a nice car, so he put a lot of money in an account. I went to s car dealership and bought a new mustang. It was a fun car.

I drove over to the entrance of the secret tunnel to Love Island, where the Titans Tower was still located. I hoped to God that my code was still good, and fortunately it was.

I drove through the secret tunnel, and emerged on the other side, on Love Island. I drove up to the Tower and parked. I sat in the car for a little while, unsure of what exactly to say. After a moment of two, I decided to just wing it and knock on the door.

I heard talking on the other side of the intercom. It was Gar and Vic. They were arguing about how someone could get on the island. Vic finally spoke up over the intercom.

"Um… who is it?" He asked. I was unsure of what to say.

"It will be easier to explain if one of you comes down here." I finally said. I heard the intercom cut out and I sighed. I really hoped one of them would come.

The door slid open. Victor Stone, Cyborg looked confused, but Garfield Logan, Beast Boy, instantly recognized me.

"Dan!" He yelled excitedly. He transformed into a bird, flew past Vic, transformed back into a human and hugged me. I wasn't much of a hugger, but I hugged him too. I'd missed this guy. He'd grown quite a bit since I last saw him.

"Danny, what are you doing here?" Vic asked me, "Last time I heard, you were… well, locked up."

"It's a long story. But I'm free now. Can I come in?"

"Duh, bro! This is your house!"

The air in the elevator felt awkward. I was happy to see them and I knew they were happy to see me, but I felt awkward still.

"Is anyone else here?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. Meg is here, I think." Vic replied.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Dick, Kara, Roy, and Donna are at college. Kori is… it's kind of hard to explain. She is at her job, basically. Raven is at school."

"Job? What job?"

"It's kind of hard to explain. I am pretty sure she's a model."

I was impressed. I didn't think that Kori could do something like that. She seemed too innocent and humble.

The elevator doors opened. I saw Megan, sitting on the couch, reading a book. Her light brown hair was longer now. She seemed more mature. With that maturity came a beauty that I didn't even know a person was capable of. I coughed slightly as I left the elevator, trying to get her attention.

"Hey Meg." I said quietly. When she saw me, her face lit up. She put her book down, and walked over to me.

"Danny. It's you." She said with a smile. My heart raced, and I hoped that she wasn't reading my thoughts. It felt like the first time we'd met, four years ago.

She still had the most gorgeous brown eyes I'd ever seen. Her smile still filled with that same childlike youth that I had first fallen in love with.

"Are you gonna say something to me?" She giggled. I blushed slightly.

"It's… it's good to see you. You're a sight for very sore eyes."

"Yeah good to see you too. What's with the beard?" She asked me.

"I don't know, I was just trying something. I have been thinking about shaving it."

"Well… it looks nice. It could use a little bit of a trim though." I replied to her. She smiled even bigger.

"Yeah, i uh… I'm not sure how to do that."

"Ahem!" Vic said very loudly, suddenly snapping us back to reality. "See BB, I told you they forgot we existed."

Both she and I blushed as Gar and Vic laughed.

"Come on Danny, let's get your stuff unpacked. Gar has had his own room for way too long…"

Unpacking took the awkwardness out of the situation completely. The four of us were just having fun. They didn't seem to even question how I got out of Arkham. Honestly, I am not sure if they knew the full extent of the situation, about Quinlan. They just knew I was in Arkham for the past 2 years. Or maybe they just didn't want to ask more than that.

I felt tired, but I decided to take a shower rather than sleep. I had to adjust back to sleeping less, if I was gonna get back to hero work.

The bite mark that Harley had given me was pretty much healed. It left a nice scar on my chest. It still looked like a bite mark though. Strangely, it matched nicely with the Phoenix tattoo on my other pec.

I decided that Meg was right, and I needed to trim my beard. It was getting long and unruly. I found a comb and scissors in a drawer, took a deep breath, and hoped it would turn out ok…

I reflected a lot on my life while trying to not butcher my beard. It felt like forever ago since I had moved to Gotham. Forever since Mom had died.

I realized that I didn't even remember what her voice sounded like. I vaguely remembered what she looked like. I wondered if I had any pictures of her.

As I finished, I heard a knock on the door that scared the hell out of me.

I opened the door, and Kori pounced on me, enveloping me in a large hug.

"Oh Friend Daniel, how I have missed you!" She cried out, squeezing me tightly. I blushed, probably because I was wearing only a towel again. Why did this always happen when I was with her?

She eventually let me go, and examined my chest.

"Oh dear! What happened here Daniel?" She said, touching Harley's bite mark. I blushed. She gave me a confused look. "Um… what happened?"

"Trust me Kori, you don't want to know." I told her, "Can you let me get some clothes on? I'll meet you out in the kitchen."

"Great! And I will make you food!" She said. I was about to object, but she was already gone. Not that I didn't love Kori, but her tastes in food were certainly not the same as mine. Or those of any human, for that matter.


	16. Chapter 15

Ch 15

"Ramen?" I asked as Kori passed me a bowl.

"Yes! I learned to cook!" She said excitedly.

I hesitated, but I didn't want to offend her. I decided to try it. It was honestly the blandest instant ramen I'd ever had. I think she forgot the seasoning packet.

"Not bad." I lied. Well, partially lied. It definitely wasn't the worst thing I'd had that Kori made. "I think it's missing something though."

"You're right! It is!" She said excitedly. Uh oh…

She came back from the fridge and poured mayonnaise and chocolate sauce all over my ramen. Great…

"You know what Kori, I am not feeling super hungry, actually." I told her. She frowned.

"You don't like it?"

"No, it's not that. It's just I… well I already ate." I lied again.

"Ok, I will save it in the fridge for you to eat later!" She said as she put my bowl in the fridge. Like, she just put the whole bowl in there, without covering it or anything.

"Come my friend, let's sit down!" Kori ordered kindly, flying over to the couch. I walked over and sat down by her. She seemed so happy to see me. It kind of made me feel like crap, honestly. She was too good for this world. Too good to be my friend, I think.

"How was your trip?" She asked me.

"Um… good. We did what we were supposed to. And don't ask what we were supposed to do. It's classified." I replied to her.

"Ok, I won't." She said to me with a large smile, "So much has happened since you were last here, I don't even know where to start."

"Well, I heard you're a model now, is that correct?" I asked her.

"Yes! It was kind of an accident, but I get quite a bit of money for just letting people take pictures of me wearing different clothes! I did not know that there was a perfect job, but I have it!"

I smiled. Her enthusiasm really helped my mood.

"Zatanna moved out about a month ago. Kara has her own room now because of that. She moved out of my room, but I didn't want to have my own room so Megan moved into my room, and now Raven has her own room. It's really fun!"

I had forgotten that Zatanna had moved out. John Constantine mentioned that right after I'd gotten out. Were they a thing, Zee and John? I felt kind of jealous.

"Friend Daniel, is everything ok?"

"Oh yeah, yeah. I'm good." I told Kori. "I just, I wanted to talk to Zee."

Last time I'd seen Zatanna was at homecoming, 2 years ago. It ended in kind of an awkward note. I told her I wanted to be more than friends, she told me she didn't.

"How have you been doing? Since your girlfriend died?" Kori asked, somewhat awkwardly.

"I've been… good. Better. I'm doing better." I said. I really tried not to think about Helena a ton.

"Well that's good. It is not easy to lose someone you love."

"I feel kind of like death just follows me." I told her, "I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't date anyone."

"Well… what about Megan? She told me all about your little interaction."

I blushed, unsure of what to say. Kori laughed.

"You used to date Megan, right?"

"Not really. She was my first crush in Gotham. Kind of a regret that I never dated her."

"Well, now is your chance!" Kori said, taking one of my hands. She definitely still needed to work on her body language. "You should ask her on a date."

"Maybe. Have you been dating anyone?"

"No. Not really."

"What about Dick?"

"I… think he is over me. He hasn't done anything since you… you know. I told you, he's acts different. He's not Robin anymore."

"Yeah, i knew that one. But like-"

"No, you misunderstand me. He does not act like Robin anymore. He… he's like you were, when I first met you."

I thought back. That was like, 3 or 4 years ago. A lot had happened that year. Kameron, my brother, had shot himself. It had been kind of crazy. I had beat the shit outta some people, I had cut some dude's fingers off. I was honestly so messed up. It was weird to think that i was more messed up then than at this time.

Supergirl, aka Kara Zor-El, entered the room. She was freshly showered and was wearing pajamas.

"Oh. Hey Danny." She said as she saw me, "I didn't know you were here."

She shot Kori a concerned look. Kori looked confused. Kara turned back to me.

"Does Gar know that you're here?" She asked me. I felt confused.

"Uh… yes?" I said, not quite getting it "Why?"

"He hasn't told him." Kara said to Kori.

"Kori, what is going on?"

"Just tell him."

"Well," Kori started, "We thought he would tell you, but our friend Garfield has been dating our friend Raven, for about seven months now."

My head was kind of spinning. What? That was so weird! Before I had gone to jail, I had been somewhat romantically involved with Raven. I say somewhat, because I was also somewhat romantically involved with Zatanna at the same time. But I had chosen Zatanna instead. Raven didn't know, but I hadn't really had the opportunity to tell her. I was glad she was dating Gar though.

"Is Dick home?" I asked Kara.

"Yeah, I think he's in the gym."

Dick was beating on the heavy bag quite a bit. He had really changed a lot. His hair was long and unkempt. He seemed taller. He was even bulkier. I leaned up against a pillar near him. He spun around and jumped at me, throwing a flying kick my way. I ducked it and rolled out of the way.

He tried to stomp me, but I got back to my feet and jumped backwards. I slipped two punches, and threw a right hook into his side. He brought his arm down, catching my punch. I wrapped my other arm around him, picked him up, and slammed him on the ground. I got up off of him, then let him get up.

"You're getting slow, Danny." Dick said, groaning as he stood up, "I caught that punch easily."

"But you set yourself up for that slam." I argued, "If I had been trying to kill you, you'd be dead by now."

"See, but then I would've put you to sleep with a guillotine." He laughed, hugging me with one arm. "Babs told me you were back. I didn't expect you to come back here though."

"Well where else was I supposed to go?" I said lightly, "This _is _still my mailing address, after all!"

"So what was Arkham like?" He asked

"Oh it was paradise," I joked, "Literally everyone in there is a criminal. I had a field day."

"Yeah, I can tell. That scar on your nose looks like you had a great time."

I felt my nose. That was from Qurac, when that huge dude had cut my nose with his sword.

"Oh that. It's actually just from a few weeks ago. Government work."

"Babs also told me about that too."

I was surprised by how much Barbara had told him.

"I didn't know you two were talking again." I said to him.

"We never stopped." He said, laughing, "We just have been more lately. A lot's happened since you got locked up, Danny."

"Like Gar and Raven dating?"

"Or me and Kori having our thing."

"Wait what?" I asked, completely shocked. "Kori never mentioned that."

"Well… It didn't exactly end the best." Dick told me, putting his shirt back on. "Oh, hey, I thought of a new superhero name a few weeks after you… 'left.'"

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Nightwing."


	17. Chapter 16

Ch 16

Nightwing. Now that was an actual good name. Way better than "Blackbird" or whatever it had been before.

I really didn't know what Koriand'r had been talking about. Dick seemed the exact same. Maybe a little more mature, definitely more independent and more confident, but he seemed like the same kid who had picked me up all those years ago, the same kid who I thought of as a brother. Maybe Kori was just biased? She didn't mention that they'd dated while I was locked up, which was a pretty good sign that Dick hadn't broken things off well with her.

We ended up just sparring for another hour or so. I finally won, but I will admit, it was definitely a battle in and of itself just getting there. I couldn't tell if that meant that Dick had gotten better or I had gotten worse.

By the end of our training session, we were starving, so we went upstairs to go see if anyone had made food.

"SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled as the elevator doors opened. Vic, Gar, Roy, Kara, Raven, Kori, Donna, and Megan all stood around a table that was covered in pizza boxes, snack foods, and a large cake that read "Welcome Home Danny!" on the top.

"Wow, I… I can't believe this, you guys!" I said, filled with emotion. This was home. I felt it. I felt the burn of tears in my eyes briefly, but I blinked them out quickly.

It was good to see Raven again. She and Gar really weren't hiding anything from me though. They were holding hands. Honestly, they probably never were hiding what they had. Knowing Beast Boy, he probably had just not remembered to tell me about their relationship when I'd spoken with him last. Can't really blame him. He was pretty excited to have me back, and to be rooming with him. He and I had some pretty good times.

Donna hadn't changed much either. Neither had Roy. A lot less had happened in 2 years than I thought would. I didn't even know if there still would be a team to go back to, to be honest. There really hadn't been that much drama either, besides Kori and Dick. It started to make me wonder if I was the source of drama in our friend group and in our team.

The party was fun. We ate pizza, cake, snacks, etc. I told them a couple of stories from my time in Arkham. Honestly, it was easier than I thought it would be to talk about Arkham. Maybe it's because in Arkham, despite what I believed, I was still the Dayhound. I still fought for what was good and right, despite being completely convinced that I was a criminal.

They also shared stories of their exploits as a team without me. Everyone had comments. It was great. It made me feel like I had actually been there. I actually felt legitimate happiness. It wasn't like the ecstasy of beating someone's face in. It wasn't like the freshness of leaving Arkham, it wasn't even like the nights of pleasure that Harley Quinn and I had shared. This was true joy. I hadn't felt it in such a long time. I was too hardened to cry, but certainly felt like it.

I decided to get to sleep early. Jet lag had caught up with me. I went into my room, pulled my shirt off, and collapsed onto my bed. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep.

It was the strangest thing. I felt nervous. Or anxious. I just felt like something bad was gonna happen. I felt stressed. My head was gonna collapse on itself. What was going on with me?

When all felt like all was lost, I heard a knock at the door.

"Hey Danny, are you… are you doing ok?" Meg asked as I opened the door. I tried to think of a lie, but it just couldn't come out. I was choking on my words. I felt like I couldn't breathe.

"No." I said, gasping for air. Meg shoved me down on the bed, walked next to my head, and touched my temples.

I felt like I was burning up for a minute or two, then I felt peace and calm.

Megan collapsed next to me on the bed, clearly exhausted all of the sudden.

"Meg." I whispered, "what just happened to me?"

"I think you were having an anxiety attack." She whispered back.

"But I don't have anxiety."

"You don't know that. It is hard to tell. But anxiety is in close tandem with depression."

"What could've caused it? The attack, I mean."

"I really don't know, Danny." She told me, turning her face to meet my gaze, "I could look inside your head and see, but I don't know if you would want that."

Her eyes looked down at the bite mark on my chest. She gave me a questioning look.

"I don't think you want to know." I told her.

"Arkham?"

"Something like that."

We sat in silence for a little while. It felt comfortable. After a few minutes, she shifted a little.

"Wait Meg, where are you going?" I asked her, worriedly.

"No where. If you don't want me to…"

"I don't want you to." I said, rather childlike, "Meg, do you remember when we first met?"

She nodded.

"And you remember when I slept over at your house?"

She giggled.

"Which time?" Megan asked.

"The second time. When I slept with you in your bed."

She blushed and smiled at me. She kissed me on the cheek.

"I do." She said, smiling. "Can I tell you something?"

"Anything, Meg."

"That was one of my best days ever."

I looked into her eyes and smiled.

"Mine too."

"Why did you bring that up?" She asked me.

"Because, I want you to stay with me tonight. I… I'm scared, Meg."

"Of what?"

I thought for a moment. I placed my forehead against hers and closed my eyes.

"Look. At everything." I whispered to her. She pressed my head back. I opened my eyes and looked at her. Her expression was full of concern.

"Danny, I don't know if you really want me to." She said nervously, "Hell, I'm not sure if I want to."

"Meg," I reassured her, "I want you to. I want you to know me better than any person on the planet."

I saw tears coming down her face. I wiped them away and asked her what was wrong.

"For Martians," she explained, "This is the most intimate bond two people can share. When they allow each other to see their whole lives."

"Are you sad? That I asked you to?"

"No Danny." She explained, "I just… never thought I would ever do this. With anyone."

"I… want you to." I whispered.

"Only if you will look at mine." She said, "But I need to tell you something first."

"What is it?"

"You're… going to be surprised by some things that you see."

I pressed my forehead against hers, touching her cheek softly. I saw her smile. As though she were reading my mind, she changed to her green form. I kissed her softly, then closed my eyes.

It was… interesting, seeing her go through my life. It was as though my whole life was flashing before my closed eyes.

Metropolis. My earliest memory was my mother singing a soft song to Kam and me. Mom was so beautiful. I saw myself grow, play. As I entered school, I became an outcast. I started to be bullied. I saw myself be pushed to the limits. I felt the grief and sadness that i had felt in that time. I felt the knife slide across my wrists as i tried to end my life. I watched Kam save me, and carry me to the hospital.

I watched myself meet Meg, Dick, Helena, and Bruce. I watched myself fall in love, have my heart broken. I watched as I pushed myself to the very edge of my physical limit, nearly dying many, many times. I relived my relationship with Helena. I felt the grief of the deaths of my family all over again. I saw myself kill Quinlan, live through prison, and kill in Qurac.

The whole experience was so surreal. I felt every experience I had ever had again, as though I had lived my life twice. I watched my life through my own eyes, but I didn't feel as though I was a part of it. As the vision closed, I felt my breath taken away.

I gasped for air as I entered back into reality. Meg placed a hand on my chest, calming me down.

"Are you ok? She asked softly. I nodded. "You're the first human to ever experience anything like that. To live their life twice. I can't imagine how you feel."

"I… I'm fine. How do you feel?"

"I feel… different. Kind of awkward. I never realized all the shit that went on in your life. I kind of want to talk about it, but I don't even know where to start."

"It's ok. We have time." I placed my forehead back against hers. "Your turn."

"Are you sure?" She whispered nervously, "I… I don't know what will happen to you. You almost died just reliving your own life. I can't imagine what it will be like living someone else's…"

"It's ok, Meg." I reassured her, "I won't die."

She closed her eyes nervously.


	18. Chapter 17

Ch 17

Honestly, I only understood part of Megan's life. I don't think I will ever understand the whole of it, just because of how complicated it was.

Mars was not the same as earth. She was born a paler green than I had seen her. Actually, her parents were also that paler green, almost white. She later explained to me that there were two races of Martian, normal ones, like J'onn, Martian Manhunter, and "white" ones, like she was. The white martians Are discriminated against on mars. They are usually deemed as less powerful, and are treated horribly by the normal green ones.

However, I didn't understand that, at the time. I watched through her own eyes as she was a refugee, a slave. I watched her be abused, mistreated, and treated as dust by other martians. I couldn't understand. Martians didn't communicate with language. They telepathically communicated feelings and ideas to each other. It was too complicated for my brain to comprehend. It wasn't built for the random images that filled my view. My mind was incapable of feeling certain emotions that the martians used to communicate.

Eventually, I watched her come to earth, and things started to make more sense. Her thoughts became less complex to my mind, and I was able to watch her as she quickly fell for me. I watched and felt her heartbreak as I decided to choose Helena instead. I felt her pain as Kameron set her on fire, and I nearly died with her. So much had happened. She'd experienced so much sorry because of me. By the time the vision closed, I felt like crap about myself.

We opened our eyes together, feeling closer than ever.

"Meg…" I whispered, full of guilt, "I'm sorry."

She knew what I was talking about. We were connected now, in some way that I can't explain.

"Danny." She told me softly, "Don't be. I love you."

"I love you too."

I never thought I would ever say those words to another woman again. Hell, I never thought I'd hear them again. And I did not feel guilty about them. Helena was gone. Though I had not forgotten her, I knew she wanted me to move on, to be happy again. I felt her out there, somewhere, with my mom and Kam. They wanted me to be with Meg. And I knew she felt them too.

We didn't have sex that night or anything, but we fell asleep in each other's arms. I felt closer to her than I ever had to anyone. This was a bond that was more than physical. It was mental, as well as emotional. I didn't know if there was such a thing, but I felt a spiritual connection with her too. Was this how Martians got married?

I woke up with Meg still in my arms. She was awake, staring up into my gray eyes with her amber ones. She smile, then placed her head against my neck.

"I don't want to leave your arms, Danny." She whispered to me. She was right. It felt too good.

Gar was not in his bed, but I remembered from Megan's memories last night that he had fallen asleep on the couch, thankfully. If he had walked in her last night while Meg and I were… getting Martian married? I still wasn't sure how to call it. If he had walked in on us doing that, I wasn't sure what he would do or how he would react. That's what sucked about sharing a room with someone: there was no privacy for intimate moments. Unfortunately, Meg had sacrificed her own room to be with Kori, so we didn't have that either.

Suddenly, Meg moved. She got on top of me and started making out with me. I wasn't gonna stop myself this time, unlike the last time we made out, all those years ago.

We were getting very… touchy, to say the least. Both of us knew where this was going, but I think we both knew that it couldn't happen. Not here, not right now. Gar or any of the other Titans could've walked in at any moment. Eventually, we were able to stop ourselves before doing anything too dirty. She stepped off of me and smiled, changing her form back to look like a normal girl.

"I gotta get ready for school." She told me, "Those 16 credit hours aren't gonna take care of themselves."

I smiled, stood up, and kissed her.

"I'll see you later tonight?" I asked her. She nodded.

"I… really want to do it." She said, almost breathlessly. I felt like taking her down on the bed again, but I was able to control that impulse. "I've never… mated with anyone. I really want to. With you. Tonight."

"I'll figure out where." I whispered, as I kissed her on the forehead. She smiled, and left the room. As awkward as using the word "mate" to refer to sex was, it kind of turned me on, coming from Meg. She was just awkward like that, honestly. But it was cute.

"Dayhound, you in position?" I heard Nightwing ask over my com-link. It was the first night I'd been out in my few weeks of being back in San Francisco.

A lot had happened, honestly. Mostly with Meg and me. We were having sex basically almost every day. So far we had kept our relationship pretty much a secret. Not because we were necessarily doing anything wrong. After all, we were both adults now, and we weren't in any other relationship, but there was something thrilling about sneaking around, behind the backs of the others.

Because she could turn invisible and go through walls, we mostly made love in the bathroom and in the shower. It was very fun and very romantic. But Meg definitely felt a little insecure. I don't think she knew that I could tell. It was really easy though, because so far I had never seen her naked in her Martian form, apart from when she shared her memories with me. We always did it when she was in human form. It wasn't a huge problem, but, not gonna lie, I REALLY wanted to sleep with a Martian.

"Dayhound, are you in position?" Nightwing asked again, this time a little more irritably. I felt so stupid. I was busy thinking about Meg so much that I had just ignored Nightwing.

"Yeah," I told him, "sorry. I am… a little out of the game."

"Well get back into it." He ordered, somewhat aggressively, "We can't afford to have you if you aren't gonna do well.

"Douche." I said under my breath. I grappled over to another rafter.

I was in another warehouse. The rest of the Titans were waiting outside. I took a deep breath, then dropped to the ground, in the middle of a small group of men.

"Shit!" One of the guys called out. "It's another one of those freaks."

"Kill him!"

"Nah man, I'm outta here!"

About half the group of 14 people scattered, heading towards the exits. One of the ones who stayed pulled out a gun. I grabbed his arm as he fired, forcing him to miss.

Suddenly, it felt very hot. I heard my heart beating fast. I felt like I couldn't breathe again. Was I having another anxiety attack?

I got hit in the face, and fell to the ground. I needed to breathe! Another dude started kicking me. I started hyperventilating quietly.

Come on Danny! Breathe!

The guy kicking me suddenly got taken down. I felt a hand touch me, and I felt calm once more. I took a deep breath, and looked up to meet Miss Martian's gaze.

"Danny." She whispered, "Are you ok?"

"I don't know…" I said softly. She was very concerned about me.

I stood up just as everyone else walked in. I tried my best to hide my discomfort.

"Please don't tell anyone." I whispered to Meg. She rolled her eyes. But I could tell she wasn't gonna say anything.

After Nightwing gave some sort of quick speech, we decided to all go on Patrol, seeing as there were no more huge crimes. Tonight was slow. The biggest one was that drug bust. Thankfully, it gave Meg and I a chance to talk about what just happened. We went back to the Tower and sat on the roof.

"Danny." She said, her voice filled with concern, "I think you have PTSD."

"Me?" I asked defensively, "I don't have PTSD, Meg. I've been through a lot worse than prison."

She gave a heavy sigh.

"A lot of people, when they come back from war, get PTSD. I learned about it in my psychology classes."

"But Meg-"

"No, Danny, you don't get it. I know what you've been through. Those soldiers you had to kill in Qurac, then all the Superman clones, that's getting to you. You may not think so, but I feel it. You need to talk to someone."

"Who?" I asked, "It's not like I can just talk to any random psychologist about a secret government covert op with a task force that doesn't technically exist."

"I'm just worried about you, babe." She told me, leaning her head against my chest, "you need professional help. I can calm you down when you need it, but we need to get to the source of the problem."

I sighed and kissed her on the top of the head. I wrapped my arms around her, then laid down, pulling her on top of me.

We laid there on a blanket we'd spread out on the roof for a little while, just cuddling. She finally spoke up.

"Do you know a Psychiatrist?" She asked me. "One who isn't an insane serial killer?"

I thought for a moment.

"I… actually do. Well… he may still be insane, but he is not a killer. Well… he's a good guy."

The rest of the night went pretty smoothly. Meg and I had an intense makeout session on the sofa until everyone else got home, then I went to bed.

That night, I wondered how I could get Dr Ted Nelson, aka, Nabu, Dr. Fate to come to me. Summoning him (or perhaps drawing his attention) would be one challenge, while getting to actually talk to Dr. Nelson would be another. Nabu never took the helmet off, because if he did, Nelson would have control again. And there was no guarantee that he would put the helmet back on.

It wouldn't be a problem, if Fate wasn't such a necessary entity in the world. I wasn't sure why. I knew enough about magic to know that it was important that someone was wearing the helmet, letting Nabu control their every action, but, at that time, I didn't know why it was so important.


	19. Chapter 18

Ch 18

"Rob- Nightwing, status report." I asked over comms. He was letting me take lead on this op for some reason. I had a feeling it had something to do with these particular criminals. We had been getting reports of a chain of robberies committed by metahumans. They were being led by a man whose M.O. matched my father's almost perfectly. Super strength and reflexes. Super brain power. He even used a sword made of promethium. But something was off. There's no way Deathstroke would be doing stuff like robbing stores unless it had something to do with a contract. Maybe the League of Shadows had hired him to take me out?

The League had tried to take me out 2 years ago at my senior prom, due to a prophecy saying that the Arbiter of Death would kill the Demon, the "immortal" leader of the cult of assassins. No one really knew if he was immortal or not, or whether or not he was just multiple men who would take the mantle of the Demon. I didn't know what to think. I just knew the i was destined to kill him, whether that would be killing one man or putting an end to an ancient regime.

I didn't think the League of Shadows, who were basically an army of expert assassins would hire my father, no matter how good he was, to kill me. He had made it clear to me before I went to Arkham that he was opposed to them.

"In position. Don't call me Robin. I am waiting for Beast Boy's signal."

"Sorry!" I apologized for my almost screw up. Asshole. "B.B. what's your status?"

I heard him transform back into his human form over comms.

"So far nothing. Are you sure it's this bank? Those guys have hit nothing but retail stores so far. A bank seems above their… pay grade?"

"If Deathstoke is heading the operation, _nothing_ is above their 'pay grade.'"

"Ok…" He sighed, "I'll keep looking…"

"Woah… hey D, I think I got something." Cyborg said, "I'm pretty sure I just saw a dude jump up a 40 story building."

"Cyborg, what's your location?"

"Bout a block south of the bank. In the T-Car. You want me to pursue?"

"No. I got it." I told him. I aimed my grappling gun and shot it at a rooftop to the south.

"Hold up Dayhound," Nightwing said, "We need you at that spot."

"Don't command me like you're in charge. _I'm _in charge right now."

I threw my comm-link off the building I was on, and ran ahead. I saw a figure on the roof just below me, speaking on a cell phone. I didn't think I just pounced on him.

"Hey! What the hell?" A teenager said and we crashed to the ground, "what? Oh shit!"

He had a ski mask on, but I could tell by how tall he was and by his voice that he couldn't have been older than 15.

"Listen kid." I growled. "Just walk away. You won't like how this ends."

"Big talk from a guy about to get roasted!" He yelled as his arms lit on fire. He blasted me with a ball of fire. I jumped out of the way, rolling as I hit the ground. I ran at him, but he launched another fireball at me.

This one hit me in the chest, knocking me back with a ton of force. I hit the ground hard, but rolled back to my feet, angrier than before. I didn't care that he was a kid, he was asking for it.

I grabbed an empty beer bottle on the roof and chucked it at him. He held both his arms up to block it. It shattered against them. He yelled, but was quickly silenced by a front kick to the face. He hit the ground, and I put a boot on his chest. I pulled out my gun and aimed it at his head.

"Move and I will kill you." I threatened. While this _did_ seem like an awful thing to do to a kid, my gun was empty, so I knew that I couldn't kill him with that.

"Man you ain't shit!" The kid said, "You're messing with Hotshot now! I will burn your house down, you hear? I will burn down your fu-"

I dropped a knee on his head to silence him. The flames on his arms went out as he lost consciousness.

I looked over at the bank just in time to see Starfire be thrown through the wall. Shit! They were inside, and here I was dealing with some metahuman punk!

I quickly hurried my way over there by roof and crashed in through a window.

Another kid, dressed in a similar manner, spun and fell to the ground when I landed behind him.

"Holy shit!" The Kid cried out as he fell to the ground. Suddenly, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. In less than a second, I heard something behind me. I ducked just in time to avoid the kid swinging wildly at me. I spun backwards, giving myself some range.

"You're just kids!" I growled at him. He teleported again, right in front of me, nailing me in the chest with a hard punch. I flew back until I smacked the wall hard. Great… he can teleport **and** he has super strength. This guy was a lot better than the other kid, 'Hotshot' or whatever it was.

I hoisted myself back to my feet, coughing.

"Goddam kid…" I said, groaning, "I'm guessing you have a nickname too?"

Kid teleported in front of me. I could almost see him smiling behind his ski mask. His eyes were glowing yellow, and his skin was red.

"Name's Kid Devil." He said. I decked him with a hard right hook while he was telling me his name. Kind of dirty, but I was at a disadvantage here. He staggered, and I grabbed a brick from the rubble of the wall he just sent me into. It wasn't a baseball bat, but I definitely needed a weapon here. I actually really needed a new bat or something. I didn't realize how much of a disadvantage I was at until I was fighting metahumans.

He teleported in front of me, and I clocked him in the face with the brick. He fell on the ground, but then teleported a distance away from me.

"Did you just hit me with a brick?" He asked, shocked.

I chucked it at him. He teleported out of the way. How was I supposed to fight this dude?

Cyborg saved me. He came crashing through the wall in the lobby, distracting 'Kid Devil.' I ran up and pistol whipped him in the face, knocking him out cold.

"Thanks Cy." I said, walking over to him. I bent over, clutching my knees, groaning.

He groaned and sat up.

"Where you been, man?" He asked me, "Nightwing has been trying to reach you over comms."

"Yeah I uh… dropped it." I told him. Technically not a lie, right? "Is Deathstroke here?"

"I haven't seen him, but I have been on my back most of the time. They got this huge animal dude! It's nuts!"

"Ok… well you and me can get him, right?" I said.

"Oh hell yeah!" Cy said, giving me a high five.

He and I charged into the room. Starfire blasted across the bank floor with a laser. Beast Boy, in bear form, was fighting 2 of the metas. Raven was chasing a meta through the air. Nightwing and Speedy were both dodging lightning bolts from a girl, while firing their own projectiles. I didn't see Donna, Miss Martian, or Supergirl, but judging from an explosion I heard outside, I guessed they were out there. The giant animal dude that Cyborg told me about picked up Beast Boy and tossed him like a teddy bear through the wall.

"Ok… throw me at him, then charge." I said. Cyborg picked me up, spun around a few times, and tossed me right into the giant animal man. Not gonna lie, I was a little intimidated by this kid. He looked like the Minotaur, from Greek mythology.

I landed on his shoulders, and sent a few downward elbows into the top of his head. He grabbed me with one hand and yanked me off, but got tackled by Cyborg. The three of us went tumbling to the ground. I slid and rolled to my feet.

Cyborg was already back to his feet, and the Minotaur dude was getting back up.

"What's the plan now, genius?" Cyborg asked me. I didn't say anything, I just ran at the Minotaur dude. He batted me to the side with his arm. I hit the wall, shattering the bricks. I hit the ground after, coughing like nuts. I heard Cyborg yell, then I heard his sonic emitter cannon go off. I saw the bull man stagger back.

I quickly jumped back to my feet, charged the dude, and started strangling him from behind. He tried to reach me, but Cyborg started throwing punches into his gut. He passed out, nearly landing in top of me.

"Nice of you to show up!" I heard Nightwing say. I flipped him off, then ran out the front door just in time to see Deathstoke running down an alley. I forgot everything and just started chasing him.

"Slade!" I roared as I caught sight of him again. He turned around and drew his sword. His costume was different than before. His helmet was orange and reflective, with no eye holes. Instead of black, it had dark blue on it.

"I think you got the wrong guy dude…" He said. I was really confused. He _looked _like my dad, _moved _like my dad, he even kind of _sounded _like him. But that was way out of character of him.

I jumped up on the wall and dove on top of him. We both tumbled to the ground and his sword went skidding away. I ended up on top, and punched his helmet several times, cracking it. He threw me off with great strength, but I landed on my feet.

He sprinted towards his sword, but I jumped and kicked him in the chest before he could get to it.

"Who are you?" I growled. He raised his fists in kind of an awkward manner.

"I'm Ravager." He told me, "Deathstroke's son."

"What?" I asked, clearly very confused.

He whipped out a small pistol and pointed it at me. I rolled to the side, grabbed his sword, and threw it at him. He dodged to the side, just barely avoiding the sharp promethium blade. It hit part of his helmet though, shattering it on the left side.

The kid staggered back, clutching his bloodied face. He dropped his gun. I charged him, but was stopped by a ninja star that hit my arm, cutting it slightly. I spun towards the thrower, ready to attack.

Ravager started to book it out of there. My first instinct was to give chase, get some answers, but I was quickly surrounded by a group of female assassins.

"I'm guessing you ladies are with the League?" I asked, getting ready for battle.

"Daniel Wilson." One said in a british accent, unsheathing her sword. "The Demon has ordered your death. You can come with us peacefully, or we will end you by force."

"Look, babe," I said, grabbing Ravager's discarded pistol, "I just got back. I'm not trying to get out of here yet."

She swung her katana at me, which I barely slipped. I bashed her in the face with the pistol just in time to avoid the razor sharp blade of one of my other attackers. I shot towards one of the Assassins in front of me, which she avoided. I ran through the gap that she left and jumped up the wall onto the fire escape. One of the women leapt from the ground up to the fire escape.

I swung at her with the pistol, but it was blocked by her sword, which would've cut my arm off if not for my reinforced gauntlet. I grabbed the other side of the blade with my free hand and smacked the hilt with the handle of the gun. She let go, and jumped backwards as I tried to kick her.

Another one jumped up onto the fire escape behind me. I swung wildly with the sword, but it was blocked easily. I locked blades with her quickly, and shoulder checked her towards the railing of the fire escape. She slammed into the railing, and dropped her sword off the side. The original one, whose sword I had, grabbed me around the neck from behind and started choking me. I swung around wildly, trying to get her off. I jumped backwards off the fire escape, landing right on top of her. It hurt like hell, but probably not as much as it hurt her. I jumped up quickly, surrounded once again by several assassins. Shit.

Suddenly, an arrow came out of nowhere. One of the assassins quickly spun around, dropping her sword, and grabbed it. It blew up in her face, sending her and the two assassins next to her to the ground. I swung the sword wildly through the crowd in the confusion, each of my blows being blocked easily. Speedy charged down the alleyway, firing arrows swiftly at my attackers. Nightwing down the other side. Starfire and the rest of the female titans came down from the sky. Soon, the League's assassins were quickly outnumbered by the Titans. They decided to retreat, leaving behind the only one that I had "defeated" by landing on top of her.

"Phew…" I said, dropping to my knees in exhaustion. "Thanks guys."

"Who were they?" Speedy asked me, quickly collecting all of his discarded arrows that were still in good shape.

"Long story." I told them. Meg ran up and hugged me tightly. I felt my face go hot. The rest of the Titans started looking at each other awkwardly.

"Well, we have one captured now." Nightwing declared, signaling to the one who I had beaten. "Cyborg, take her back to the Tower for questioning."

"That's not a good idea." I chimed in, "I wouldn't normally suggest this, but it might be a better idea to kill her."

Everyone was shocked. Which, I guess they should've been. I was a little shocked by what I had just said.

"Look…" I explained, scratching my head, "The truth is, I am scared of these guys. They… were behind the attack at the high school all those years ago. I don't want any of you to get hurt."

I was expecting everyone to get mad, but they weren't.

"Look Danny," Nightwing said, placing a hand on my shoulder, "We're a team. We take care of each other. You can tell us what's going on."

I took a step back. I was starting to have another anxiety attack. No, not now! I looked at Meg. She knew about the League and she knew what was going on. Why was she staying quiet?

"Friend Daniel?" Starfire asked, "are you… are you ok?"

I fell to my knees. I felt like I couldn't breath and like I was going to cry. Meg knelt next to me and started to hug me. The rest of the Titans also gathered round.

Megan was calming me down, but I felt strangely comforted by the presence of my friends. I had never felt like this before. At least, not in a long time. Not since my mother died.

"Look, you guys," Meg said, "I'm gonna take Danny home. He… he'll explain everything later tonight."

"Alright, Cyborg, get her, take her back to the Tower. Supergirl, Starfire, and Beast Boy, gather up all the meta's and secure then until the police come. Speedy, Donna, and me will look around and gather evidence. Titans, go!"

Meg and I flew back to the Tower. The flight was calm. Which was kind of a surprise, because every single time a hero or villain had taken me for a 'flight,' it was usually to try and kill me. I think this was my first flight that was actually nice. It was relatively silent too. When we got to the Tower and got changed into street clothes, Meg started to speak.

"Were they League assassins?" She asked.

"Yeah." I said as we cuddled on the couch in the Hub.

"And they are after you because you're some kind of… reincarnation of some kind of mythical being?"

"Yes. The Arbiter of Death."

"How do they know?" She asked worriedly.

"I really don't know."

"Ok, but listen: I don't even think this whole 'Arbiter' thing is true."

"Babe," I said, squeezing her tightly, "it is. You know all I do about it."

"I just don't know what to think about it, Danny," she sighed, "I mean, what _proves_ that you're this 'Arbiter' creature? Or that it even exists?"

I thought about that for a moment. She was right. I had basically just accepted that I was the Arbiter of Death because people had told me I was. Zatara, Dr. Fate, the Arbiter of Secrets, and more; everyone had just told me that I was. And I hardly ever questioned it. Sure, I could do magic, but so could a lot of people. It didn't mean anything. We kind of dropped the conversation after that.

That night, I explained everything to everyone. The League, Qurac, my anxiety everything. Everything that I had been keeping secret. It… felt good. To get it all off my chest. I wasn't sure how they would react, especially to Quinlan's murder and the events in Qurac, but I didn't feel like they treated me any different. They knew that I was human, no matter how hard I tried not to be. I left my brief fling with Harley out of it, as well as my current relationship with Megan, but other than that I explained it all. The important thing is the fact they reached out. I was one of them. I was their friend. They accepted me, no matter who I was or what I had done.


	20. Chapter 19

Ch 19

I found Dick the next day in the lab of the Tower, working on the blood sample from the pieces of Ravager's helmet. He had stayed up all night working on DNA samples from the metas as well as the assassin.

"Hey Dan, how you doing?" He asked me without taking his vision from his microscope. He was becoming more like Bruce than he knew. Definitely more than he wanted to be.

"Good. Better." I sighed. "It's so weird, you know? Like, PTSD and anxiety are against our training, you know?"

Dick laughed.

"What makes you think that?"

"Huh?"

"Batman couldn't train us against mental disorders, Danny. He just trained us to be able to function in those kinds of situations."

I was silent for a moment.

"When did you start sleeping with Meg?" He asked. I was stunned. There was no way he could know that. Did Meg tell?

"How did you know?" I asked. He smirked.

"I didn't, actually. I just guessed. You just confirmed my suspicions."

"How…?"

"When you started having that anxiety attack, Meg bolted right to your side. And she took you home after your anxiety attack."

"Listen Dick, I…"

"It's fine." He laughed, "I don't care. I just wanted to see if I was right. When did it start?"

"A few weeks ago. She came in while I was having my first anxiety attack. Helped me out a lot. The next day was the first time we did it."

"I never would've guessed. I mean, I knew you had a little crush when you both were in high school, but I thought once Helena was gone, you were done."

"We… bonded a lot. I think we are… married, I guess. By Martian standards."

"What?"

I explained the mind thing that Meg and I had done that first night we were together. I didn't know for sure if we were married or not, but I did feel super close to her. Closer than I'd ever felt to anyone.

Dick just nodded. He probably wasn't sure what to say.

"Dick, what happened between you and Kori?"

He sighed.

"Don't worry about it."

"Come on, dude." I said, "You and Kori are my best friends. I deserve to know."

Dick was silent for a long time. He really didn't want to tell me.

"We started dating, about 6 months into your prison sentence. It was fun. Good. We had a lot of fun. But it got boring. We started fighting. She stopped listening to my orders in the field."

There was definitely more to the story, but I wasn't gonna push him more.

"Ok, cool. How's Ravager's blood sample?"

"It's clean. The only problem is that he's not a meta. There is something… else here in his blood. I am not sure what it is though."

"I have my suspicions. Here." I said, passing him a vial of blood, "Compare it to that."

I started to walk away.

"Whose blood is this?" He asked.

"Mine." I told him as the elevator closed.

"Hey Kori, you in there?" I asked as I knocked the her door.

"Friend Danieeeeel!" I heard her squeal from inside her and Meg's room. She opened the door quickly, then yanked me inside with her incredible strength.

"My wonderful Friend Daniel! You've never visited me in my room before! This is truly a momentous occasion! Here, I will get a surprise!"

Great… what did I just walk in to?

Kori frantically scoured through her drawers, looking for something. She pulled out two paper crowns from Burger King, placed one on each of our heads, then pulled out a bottle of orange juice, and poured me and her a teacup full. We both sat down at a table she had set up.

"Uh… thanks?" I said, clearly very confused.

"I must say, fellow king Daniel, you are quite dashing in your crown." She said in a deeper voice. What was going on?

"Uh… what the hell is going on?" I asked her.

"I have a beautiful roommate who I would love for you to meet handsome-king Daniel."

I blushed.

"Kori I-"

"Just kidding you, my friend! Megan already told me. I am so so so SOOO happy for you both! When are you going to have children?"

"I am not sure we can. I mean, we are different species."

"That's true. I suppose. You should still try."

"I am not so sure about that…" I said. I really hadn't thought about having children ever. Not with Helena, not with Zatanna, and certainly not with Megan. I wasn't even sure if I would _want _to have children with Meg. I mean, I loved her, but half-human, half-Martian children would have an interesting life for sure.

"So, Friend Daniel, what did you come in here for?" Kori asked me finally.

"Kori… I want to know what happened between you and Dick."

Her countenance changed completely. This had been the only time I had ever seen her like this. It was scary, because it was a look I had seen in the mirror before. She was completely disheartened.

"I don't want to talk about it." She muttered.

I didn't say anything for a long time. I stood up and gave her a long hug. I definitely was not a hugger, but Kori was. And she definitely needed it.

"Kori," I whispered to her, still hugging her tightly, "You don't have to talk about it, but I need to make sure you're ok."

I felt hot tears running down her face. This definitely confirmed my suspicions that there had been more to the story than what Dick had told me. Kori wouldn't have been like this if it had been mutual. Despite being such a cheery, girly person, Koriand'r was one of the strongest people I knew. She had been through a lot. I didn't know all of it, but I did know that she had been rejected of her own people and forced to wander around space without a home, being rejected and hated everywhere she went until finally ending up here, where people loved and accepted her.

"I will tell you, Friend Daniel." She told me, "Because I love you. As my best friend. Not as a lover."

I removed our paper crowns, pulled my chair closer, and sat down, ready to listen.

She explained to me (in great detail) their **whole** relationship. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten sexual, because if they had, she probably probably would've told me **everything**.

Eventually, she got to the point. Dick had been cheating on her, with Barbara Gordon. I can't really say I was surprised. He always loved her, and I knew that. But that really wasn't the worst part. He would say very horrible things about Kori to Barbara. I guess one could describe a lot of them as racist, since most of the time it was attacking the fact that she was an alien. Dick technically had never lied to me. **He** had gotten bored, they _did _start fighting, and she _did _stop following orders, due to lack of respect of him. It was a Tamaranean thing, apparently. They don't listen to leaders they don't respect.

After comforting Kori, I decided I needed to pay Dick another visit.

"Hey Danny," He said, turning towards me in the lab, "I have found something very interesting. I-"

I grabbed his arm and slammed his head down on the counter in the lab. Garfield, who was now in there too, screeched in terror, and transformed into a mouse.

"What the hell, dude? I-"

I socked him in the nose, picked him up by his shirt, then slammed him into the wall.

"You son of a bitch!" I roared furiously. He slapped me in the head with the back of his fist, and I threw him into the window. He cracked the glass, but didn't go through it.

Recovering quickly, he rushed me. I grabbed his arm as he superman punched and used his momentum to throw him to the ground. I pressed my knee to his chest and started strangling him while slamming his head to the ground. His face started turning blue, but I was yanked off with great force and hoisted into the air.

"What the hell is going on?" Kara said, holding me up in the air with one hand. Dick rolled to his knees, gasping for air. Gar came out from behind Kara.

"I don't know!" Dick yelled, "He just started attacking me!"

"What happened Danny?" Kara said, tightening her grip on the back of my neck.

"Kara," I said calmly, "if you don't let me go or calm down, you're gonna break my neck."

She dropped me to the ground, and asked me again.

"I… I was mad. About what he did to Kori."

Kara rubbed her eyes with her fingers.

"Look Danny," Dick said, finally almost breathing normally, "I know you just got back and just found out about it, but Kori and me were a long time ago. We're over it."

"She's not." I said calmly.

He sighed.

"Clearly I can't change your mind about this. Look, forget about that right now, let me tell you what I found." He said, standing up. He walked over to the computer, typed a few things, and two bars popped up, with a large '54% match' above them.

"What is that?" I asked, forgetting my rage for a moment.

"That's how much of your DNA matches Ravager' look, here's yours and Kam's, minus your mom's. Keep in mind, you _are _twins, so there's gonna be a little bit more…"

The screen showed that Kam and me, minus my mom, matched 60%.

"Who is this kid?" Dick asked me, just as shaken as I was.

"He… told me he's Deathstroke's son." I told Dick, "He's my half-brother, apparently."

Suddenly, the alarm went off. There was an emergency. We rushed up stairs. Alfred came on the big tv in the hub.

"Um… hello Teen Titans." He said, "I do apologize that Master Bruce nor any other member of the League is able to give you this mission, but they are off… investigating. That is all I can say. Regardless, I _do _have a special mission to give you. The Batcomputer, ahem… I mean, Watchtower Supercomputer, is informing me that there is some kind of… anomaly, off the coast of Oregon. I have sent a transport vehicle to take you there. Please prepare as quickly as you can."

The screen went black. I looked at Dick. He nodded to me. We had to put this aside, for the sake of the mission. That's what Batman taught us.


	21. Chapter 20

Ch 20

"Do you see anything yet?" I yelled to Dick as we looked through storm. The rains beat down on our transport jet. Dick and I, the only trained pilots in the Titans, were flying while scanning for this 'anomaly' that Alfred had told us about.

"Vic, you seeing anything yet?" Dick yelled back to Cyborg, who was searching the area using the jet's scanners.

"Friend Daniel," Starfire said, walking over to me, "Perhaps the danger is below the water?"

"Can you pull us down lower?" Vic asked, "I can scan below the surface if we are closer."

"We can try." Dick said, "The storms creating some big waves. We don't want to submerge her, these things cost a ton!"

"Yeah, cause _that's _what we are worried about, the cost of the plane!" Speedy snarked sarcastically.

We pulled down as low as we could.

"Hey guys, I got something, I-" Vic started to say. A loud thud on the top of our plane interrupted him.

"What the hell was that?" I asked Dick.

"I don't know…" he said nervously. I stood up and walked over to the back of the jet. I opened the cargo door.

"Hey, Dan, you sure you should..." Beast Boy started to ask. I didn't listen to him. I started to climb out on top of the jet.

The rain beat down on my hood. I felt deafened by the storm. I couldn't see very far in either direction. I pulled out my comm unit.

"I don't see anything, I-"

I got hit in the back hard. I started to slide off the jet, but managed to catch the edge of the wing. I pulled myself up. There was some kind of… fish creature standing on the top of the jet.

"What the hell?"

It screeched, then charged me. I heel kicked it in the face.

"Dayhound, status! What's going on up there?"

I punched it, but it started to tackle me. I hit it twice, but my blows seemed to do nothing to it's thick scales. I stabbed it with the spikes on my gauntlet hard. It bowled and jumped back in the ocean. I caught my breath for a moment.

"Dayhound?"

"Some kinda fish… thing." I said, getting back to my feet.

"There's gotta be more."

"Hey guys…" I heard Cyborg say nervously on the comm-link. "My scans are pulling up a lot of… things…"

"How many?" I roared over the rain.

"About 1000…" He said.

Suddenly, a ton of creatures jumped up on the jet. Some fish creatures, some squid creatures, and some I couldn't even tell you what they looked like.

"Shit!" I yelled. The creatures charged me. I spun a few times, kicking them as they came. One of them got sucked into one of the engines of the jet. It exploded, sending me into the dark water.

I couldn't tell which way was up or down. There was no visible sun, and it didn't seem like there was gravity. Something grabbed onto my arm. It hurt a lot. I swung wildly with my free hand, hitting a large creature. I drew my utility knife and stabbed it several times until it let go.

I tried to escape the darkness, to breathe the precious air that I desperately craved. Something hard slammed into my head. Metal. Was it a piece of the jet? I felt my consciousness fading. I swam in the direction that I got hit. My head felt light. My lungs burned. I felt my hand hit above water. I was there!

Suddenly, before my head could get above, something grabbed my leg and yanked me down. I finally gave in to the cold clutches of the deep.

"Daniel!" I heard a familiar voice calling my name in the distance. Where was I?

I wandered through the cloud of shadow that I was in, heading towards the voice.

"Daniel! Can you hear me?" The voice said again. "Daniel!"

I called out.

"I'm here!" I yelled loudly. "Over here."

Suddenly, the thick black fog lifted. Revealing a… white area. Giovanni Zatara was in front of me.

"Daniel! Finally, I have been able to find you!" He said. He looked awful! His clothes were tattered, his hair and mustache were messed up, and there was dried blood covering one side of his face.

"Gio!" What's going on?" I asked, thinking about what happened. "Am I… dead?"

Zatara laughed.

"No my friend, not quite!" He said, placing a hand on my shoulder, "I have finally been able to communicate with you. We don't have much time."

Everything around us started to fade to gray.

"Wait, what's going on?"

"No time. I need your help! I am trapped in Trigon's realm. You need to save me. Trigon is trying to enter into our realm. Talk to Raven about it! You need to help me! Find Constantine! He will know what to do!"

"Wait Gio!" I yelled, as he and everything else all faded.

I woke up gasping for air. Oh sweet air! How I always took advantage of sweet, sweet oxygen. I threw up some water.

"Oh thank God!" Megan said, hugging me tightly. I was back in the jet. It was a lot quieter now. The storm had subsided, or we had gone away from it or something.

"Shit…" I muttered. My clothes were soaked. "What the hell happened?"

"You fell in the ocean." Beast Boy said, "I tried to go in after you, but I couldn't find you, until some dude carrying you in the water found me."

"What?"

"Aquaman." Dick explained to me.

Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, was the King of Atlantis. He was a good king, but shared the xenophobia of all Atlanteans, despite being half human himself. Why would he have saved me? It would've been really easy for him to just let me drown.

"Is he here?"

"No." Supergirl chimed in, "He said he had to deal with all of what was happening below the surface. Sounded pretty bad."

Suddenly, my dream or vision of Zatara came back to me.

"Shit! Where's Raven?" I asked. Raven came over.

"What happened?"

"Trigon. He… he's coming."


	22. Chapter 21

Ch 21

"Wait, wait, wait," Cyborg stopped us, "Who the hell is Trigon?"

"He's…" Raven started to say, "He's my father. And if he came here, it would be the end of the world as we know it."

"Wait, can't you just like, tell him not to?" Speedy asked.

"It's not that easy." I told them. "I was there when Trigon tried to come to our realm the first time. Using Raven."

"What do you mean 'using Raven?'" Beast Boy asked. I looked at Raven, expecting her to explain. She sighed.

"That is… the reason I was born. To help my father come into this realm. I don't want to, and because of Danny, Zatara, and others I didn't have to live out that purpose."

"But," I interrupted, "i just spoke with Giovanni Zatara. He's trapped in Trigon's realm, and he needs our help."

"So let me get this straight," Dick asked me. We had arrived back home, and Raven and I had pretty much explained everything we knew. I recounted my vision of Zatara, "Raven's dad, some kind of Demon, wants to come here so he can, what? Destroy the world? And we are the only ones who can stop him?"

"That's right. We are the only ones who can stop him." I confirmed, "But… Raven, why does he want to come here?"

She took a deep breath.

"Well," She said reluctantly, "Long ago, men sought to gain power over one another through the summoning of demons from Trigon's realm. My father allowed this, but because he had a plot to enslave the inhabitants of this world. Nabu, along with other guardians of this realm, called 'the Arbiters,' fought boldly to defeat him and stop him from entering this world. They were successful, but not without price. Each Arbiter was cursed to walk the earth forever with their own unique curse, and Trigon's hate fueled. He vowed to renter this realm and gain vengeance on the Arbiters and inhabitants of the earth."

What? I did that? Or rather, past life me did? I didn't understand either that I was cursed? Nabu, who apparently was an Arbiter himself, was trapped in a helmet, the Arbiter of Secrets was trapped in the House of Secrets, but what was my curse?

"So how are we supposed to stop him then?" Kara asked Raven. She looked st the ground.

"I… don't know. I was the only way Trigon could leave his realm after the Arbiters defeated him. His battle with them crippled him. If he's found a way to use Zatara though… we have to rescue him."

"Gio did say one thing that might help us." I said to the group, deciding to keep my role as Arbiter a secret, "We need to find John Constantine."

"Was that the guy that helped Zatanna move?" Kara asked. Both Raven and I nodded.

"John's a friend. Of both Zatara and me." I said to them. "He also knows a lot about the old magics. Stuff that is forbidden. If anyone can help us, it's him."

"But how do we find him?" Kori asked.

"Well love," a familiar Welsh accent said from the elevator, "All you gotta do is ask."

John Constantine and Zatanna Zatara stepped off the elevator together.

They knew somewhat of what was going on. Zatara had been able to talk with them too, but not for nearly as long. He only told them to find me, and I would be able to tell them more. They apparently weren't in the right place at the right time.

Just then I got a text from a blocked number.

"Go to the roof."

"Who is this?" I texted back.

"You have 3 minutes to comply."

"Who the hell is this?"

"Waller. Don't let anyone follow you."

Shit. Talk about the worst possible time…

I turned towards the hall.

"Danny, what are you doing?" Zatanna asked, "We need to talk."

"I um… need to use the restroom."

"Now?" She asked, "That's bad timing."

"Sorry." I muttered as I hurried towards the hall.

I had to think. No way i could take the elevator, since there was only one. There were no stairs I could take…

I went into my room and opened the window. If I used the window sill to jump, I could grab on to the edge probably…

I felt like crap, lying to everyone again. But it was for their own safety. Waller could blow the hell out of me at any time, and to be honest, I didn't know how big the explosion would be. The only one who would for sure survive would be Kara. Meg, my love, would die for sure, considering that there would probably be a ton of fire.

Once I was on the roof, I saw Waller, Flag, and Artemis standing across the roof from me. My blood boiled.

"What the hell do you want?" I growled at them.

"Vacation's over." Waller said, "We need you for another mission."

I growled in frustration. This was possibly the worst timing ever…

"You know what Waller? No." I said. She laughed at me.

"You don't get to tell me no, Wilson." She laughed, "I _own_ you."

"Look bitch," I argued with her, "There's more here at stake than the damn nation."

"And the justice league will handle that. But you're needed elsewhere."

Flag hadn't said anything yet. Neither he nor her had any object in their hands. If I took them out fast enough, they couldn't activate the nanites. I could probably take Artemis after that.

I sighed, trying to mislead Waller and Flag to lower their guard.

"Good." Waller said, "Follow us to the chopper."

The moment they turned around, I struck Flag hard on the back of the head. Waller reached in her pocket, but I grabbed her wrist and flipped her onto the ground before she could get there. I hit her three times in the face, then kicked Flag across the head hard. I heard a bow being drawn back. I jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding an arrow aimed at me chest. I took Flag's knife from his belt and lunges at Artemis.

She blocked my first strike with her bow, but I grabbed it and sliced the string. She drew a dagger of her own and slashed at my throat. I dodged it, and grabbed her arm under mine. She hit me in the ribs a few times, but I would not let her blade arm go. I headbutted her, then yanked the knife from her hand. She tried to sweep my legs, but I jumped over her and started choking her from behind.

Artemis struggled, but my grip held true. I only let go when I heard a pistol being cocked behind me.

"Drop her, Wilson." Waller ordered. "I swear to God, I will blow your damn head off here and now."

I sighed, then let go of Artemis. She gasped for air, but once she'd recovered, she hit me in the gut with her knee. I collapsed to the ground, and Waller stood over me.

"Bold move." Waller said, wiping blood away from her nose. I just spit at her.

"I should kill you here and now." She told me. "I free you from prison and _this _is how you repay me?"

"Waller," i said, this time more docile, "You have to listen to me. Our world is in danger, and I am the only one who can stop it."

"Really?" She said, "you? You're more fit for the job than Superman?"

"It sounds crazy, but you have to believe me."

"If you weren't such a damn good soldier, I would kill you. But Batman knows how to train soldiers. Perhaps in another life he would be a general…"

Flag was back to his feet now, standing over me.

"Colonel," Waller commanded, "Cuff him and load him on the chopper."

Flag picked me up from behind and cuffed my hands behind my back. Three men got out of the chopper with assault rifles. Flag shoved something in my hand. A key.

"On my signal." He whispered. What was his angle?

I took a deep breath as he lead me toward the chopper. I felt Flag's hand let go of my arm. He placed his hand on his silenced 9mm. I unlocked the handcuffs. The moment he drew his gun, I sprung onto one of the soldiers. I yanked his gun from his hand and bashed him hard in the face with it. I pointed it at Waller. Flag had shot the other two and was also pointing his gun at Waller. She was pointing her pistol at me. Artemis had her bow drawn and also aimed at me.

"Now _this _is something I didn't expect." Waller said, clearly amused, "Colonel, why?"

"Look, If Wilson is right," the Colonel said, completely motionless, "the world is at risk. There can't be a US to protect if there's no world."

"Waller, I'll come with you, do whatever the hell you want," I told her, "but this is something I have to do."

"Colonel, I'm _ordering _you to back down and turn your gun on Wilson. So help me, I will court martial you."

"It doesn't make a damn difference if there's no world for me to be court martialed in."

Suddenly, a black jet flew over us. Faster than anyone could react, Batman was on the roof of the Tower. He snatched the gun from Waller's hand, and, in the same motion, threw a batarang at Artemis. It sliced threw the string of her bow. The tension snapped the bow, and Artemis fell backwards. Batman was ready to spring, but Flag was already on top of her, bashing her in the face with his pistol until she was out cold.

"You don't know what you're doing!" Waller yelled. She pulled a device from her pocket and hit the button. Suddenly, I felt excruciating pain everywhere. I collapsed to the ground. Blood poured out of some of the pores on my body. I clenched my teeth.

Batman came over and pulled me to my feet.

"No!" I yelled, as I tried to shove him away. She'd activated the nanites in my body. They were expanding, and I was about to blow up. He said something to me, but my ears were ringing too loud.

Batman stabbed a needle into my neck and injected me with something. I fell backwards, writhing in pain. As quickly as it came though, the pain faded away. I didn't blow up. The ringing stopped. I was safe.

"What the hell did you do?" Waller said. Batman, without a word, kicked her in the head, knocking her out cold.

"How are you feeling, Dayhound?" Batman said to me. He extended a hand.

"Better." I muttered, wiping blood off my face with my shirt sleeve. I grabbed his hand and he helped me up. "I think my clothes are ruined, but I feel fine."

"How did you do that?" Flag asked, clearly stunned at what had just happened, "That's ARGUS tech. It's 20 years ahead of everyone else."

"My tech is clearly more ahead." Batman muttered. Though his tone and face had not changed, I could tell he was beaming on the inside.

The Titans all burst out of the elevator, prepared for a fight. They were surprised to see Batman.

"What are you doing here?" Nightwing asked.

Batman turned to me.

"I haven't been completely honest with you all." I told everyone. "After I got out of prison, I went on a secret military mission to Qurac with a special task force called Task Force X."

"The Suicide Squad." Flag added.

"It was a special condition of my release from Arkham Asylum. To… motivate me, they placed nanites in my bloodstream. Basically this whole time I've been a walking bomb."

"His time here, with you all," Flag started to say, "was a special condition of his… extraordinary cooperation in our last mission. But we came to take him back."

"So why is everyone down except you?" Speedy asked.

"Because Wilson made the whole apocalypse situation known to me. I may not be a good man, but I will do whatever it takes to save this country. And if Wilson's right, it sounds like if we took him back, there wouldn't be a country to save."


	23. Chapter 22

Ch 22

Once we were back in the Tower, Batman explained everything he knew. He had neutralized the nanites in my system with some nanites of his own. The ARGUS ones were still there and active, but they couldn't do anything as long as Batman's were in there.

Now came the hard part: explaining to everyone what had happened. Arkham was easy Qurac was harder. It was hard telling everyone that I had killed a good number of soldiers there, but they had to know the things I had done. I had left out my brief sexual fling with Harley Quinn, but that was irrelevant at the time.

"Wait, so I get the whole 'soldier' thing, and the Arkham one," Cyborg started, "But there's one thing I don't get: how did you end up in Arkham in the first place? Like, I get that you killed Quinlan, I remember that, but like, Dick said it was an accident."

I looked at Dick.

"It was an accident… right Dan?"

I broke his gaze, and looked down. How could I tell these people, my friends, that I had _tortured _a girl to death?

Meg walked over to me, placed a hand on my cheek, and gently guided my gaze to meet hers. I felt calm. I felt warm inside. I couldn't tell if Meg was influencing my mind with her powers of just being there. We stood there for what seemed like forever. It was just a minute in reality. She grabbed my hands for a moment and turned to the rest of the group.

"It wasn't an accident, but he regrets it." She told them.

"Meg, no offense, but how do _you_ know?" Zatanna asked.

"Danny and I…" she hesitated, "Are married. If you can call it that. The Um… Martian equivalent of being married."

Everyone, except for Kori and Dick, was completely shocked. Even Batman had a change of expression.

"Wait, so you two…?" Vic started to ask. Meg nodded.

"And have you…?" Gar started to ask. Meg also nodded.

"Just assume that whatever questions you have, the answer is yes." Meg said

"So… um… how do martians get married? Especially with humans, cause it's not really the same… I don't know." Raven asked, kind of awkwardly.

"We… Um… well the best explanation is that we read each other's minds. On a large scale level. Like, their whole memory, large scale. I can project all my memories into a human's mind as well, but, as he and I learned, it is very stressful on the brain."

"So that's how you know what happened that night." Batman said. Meg nodded.

"Ah!" Kori screeched, "I _finally _don't have to keep this a secret! My best friends are _married!_ Ah!"

She ran over to us and grabbed us both in a huge hug. She picked us up with her great strength and spun us around, laughing as she did.

"Ahem!" Zatanna said, trying to refocus everyone, "has everyone forgotten about Trigon!"

"C'mon Zee," Constantine teased, "Let them have their moment. The world's about to end, after all!"

"Are you ready for this?" Batman said to me. I was sitting alone in costume in the armory.

"I don't know." I told him, "It's a lot, you know? I didn't think this whole Arbiter thing would be such a big deal."

"I understand that." He said, pulling down his cowl. "When I put this on for the first time, I didn't think it would be such a big deal either."

"Why did you put on the mask?"

"Good question." He said, "When my parents were killed… I felt so helpless. I couldn't do anything. I didn't want to feel like that anymore."

"And have you? Ever felt that way?"

He thought for a moment.

"Yes. I have. With you."

"What?"

"Whenever you do something… unpredictable, I feel that way."

"When I kill?"

"Yes. You were a loose cannon. You remind me of myself when I was younger."

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

"Yes. When I was your age. I was still training to be who I am, in Nepal. I thought that if I could kill criminals, I could stop them. But it's just not the way."

"When did you come to that conclusion?"

"When I watched a murderer run into a burning house to save a kid. People aren't good or bad. They are always somewhere in between."

Meg came in, in human form, and wrapped her arms around me from behind.

"Hey you." I greeted her. She smiled at me, but there was a sadness in her eyes.

"I will let you two talk." Batman said, pulling his cowl back up. "We'll be ready to leave in half-an-hour. Victor and Constantine are almost done with the upgrades to the Bat-Jet."

He went back to the elevator. I kissed Meg softly. She sat down on my lap.

"Are you ok?" I asked her. She kissed me again for a moment and then looked down.

"It's just… this might be it."

"What do you mean?"

"We've never faced anything like this before. This is a Demon King, Danny."

"I know." I told her, placing a hand on her thigh.

"What if we don't make it back?"

"Don't say that."

"But it's a real possibility."

"Meg, we're gonna make it back. We're gonna save the world, then you and me are gonna go somewhere."

"Where?"

"We're gonna retire. Go to… Greece. My mom said she went once. She said it's gorgeous. That's where we're gonna live for the rest of our lives. Together. Me and you."

She hugged me tightly. I wrapped an arm around her, and kissed her neck softly. Not in a sexual way, but longingly. I wanted to be with her. We stayed like this until Batman returned.

The upgrade that John and Vic had made to the Bat-Jet was some kind of interdimensional tech, if you could call it that. It was an ingenious combination of magic and technology. The kind of thing that only Vic's advanced brain could come up with. Batman was a genius, but no matter how smart he was, he would never be as smart as Vic, who had nearly unlimited access to all the databases on the planet if he had a WiFi connection.

"Dan," Constantine said, "come here. I have something to tell you."

"Yeah?" I asked, walking over.

"I need to tell you about passing through dimensions." He explained, "When someone passes through a dimension, they need to 'die' first. Kind of. We will be passing through the world of the dead."

"So why do I need to know this?" I asked.

"For most of us, we will just fall asleep. But you're the Arbiter of Death. You'll be awake the whole time. Kind of. Your soul will leave your body for the duration of our time there."

"So what?"

"You'll see dead people, mate. It might be horrific."

"I… understand."

"Just stay focused on the task at hand. And the Martian girl. If you keep focused, you won't go insane by anything you see."

"John?" I asked as he started to get on the jet.

"Yes mate?"

"You've seen it, the world of the dead, right?"

He nodded.

"That's how I know how horrible it is."

As we all got on the jet, I felt my heart beating faster. This was it. Life or death. I'd been in plenty of life or death situations, but this one felt the most serious. Meg, who was sitting next to me, grabbed my hand.

"Danny, I love you." She said to me as it started to take off.

"I love you too-" I started to say, then everything went black.

"Death…" I heard a whisper. I opened my eyes. I was standing in a dark field. This was it. The land of the dead. The underworld.

"Death…" I heard the whisper again. I instinctively started to follow the whisper, as though it were pulling me.

There was a man whose back faced me. I grabbed his shoulder. He quickly spun around. His face was completely gone, revealing the bones and eyeballs. He screeched. I fell down.

"Focus Danny!" I heard a familiar voice say. "Focus!"

I thought. I thought about Meg. Her warm touch. Her laugh. I focused my mind on her. I stood up and walked past the faceless spirit, towards the whisper.

The things I saw were horrific, like Constantine warned. I will never be able to get some of those images out of my mind. I can't even describe some of what I saw. I won't. It is too hard.

The whisper led me to a small cottage. I walked in through the door and sat down.

"Danny!" A familiar voice said from the other room.

My mom stepped into the room, smiling. There was a large knife wound in her gut, but other than that, she was as beautiful as ever. I stood up.

"Mom?!"

She rushed over and hugged me tightly. I didn't want to let her go.

"Look at the man you've become!" She said, grabbing my cheeks. Her eyes hurt, as though they longed to be with me.

"How are you here?" I asked, "Is… is Kam here?"

"I should be asking you that!" She said, "you're the one who's alive. You shouldn't be here yet."

"It's a long story."

"I want to hear everything!"

"Mom," i said, "is Kam here?"

"Why would He… oh…" she said. Her demeanor completely changed. She sat down. "How did he die?"

"He shot himself… it was a hard situation."

"I don't know where he is. I haven't found him. We have to find each other here. It's complicated."

"How about Helena?"

"Helena is Dead too?" She asked, "Oh god, Danny… you've lost so much, haven't you?"

I nodded. She looked at the clock.

"You don't have much time, do you?"

"I don't." I told her. "Maybe 10 minutes at most."

"Look at the man you've become." She said, hugging me tightly. "My little hero. I am so proud of you."

"Why?" I asked her, tears streaming down my face. "I couldn't save you. There's so many things that I can't do that I should've. I couldn't save you, I couldn't save Kam, and I couldn't save Helena."

"Danny, honey," she said softly, "it's not about who you couldn't save, it's about who you can save. Stop dwelling on the past and make the most of today."

I was silent. What was I supposed to say? Not saving my mom was one of my greatest failures.

"Where are you going?" She asked me finally.

"I'm going to save the world." I told her, "I… I don't know if I can. I'm not strong enough."

"Of course you are."

"How do you know?"

"Because you're Danny. _You_ are the Dayhound. My little hero. I know you can."

"I don't know if I can. All my friends are counting on me. I don't know if I can save them."

"You don't want to lose them, do you?"

"No, mom." I told her, "I don't want to lose any of them. I've already lost so much. These are my only friends. They are counting on me."

"I know, honey." She said, caressing my hair. "You can do it. I believe in you. You're my hero."

Everything started to fade away.

"Mom, Wait, no! I need you!" I yelled, as I felt her touch begin to fade.

"No you don't. I love you!" She said distantly, "Go save the world!"

I woke up with a start, gasping for breath. I felt cold. Everyone else was looking at me.

"You ok, mate?" Constantine asked. I nodded, wiping away the beginnings of tears on my face.

"I'm good. I promise." I said, choking down tears. Despite my mother's encouraging words, I felt more nervous than I ever had.

Batman landed the Bat-Jet. Everyone got out. It was literally as hot as hell. I say that because it even looked like I imagined hell. The air reeked of sulfur. The ground was made of a blood red stone. There were fires burning everywhere. Just a few seconds out of the jet, and I was already sweating buckets.

"Goddamn," Flag said, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, "it's hotter than Qurac out here."

I turned towards Meg, sensing her discomfort. Fire was one of the weaknesses of Martians. She shouldn't have come. It was too dangerous for her, and I didn't want to lose her. I couldn't lose someone else. I couldn't. I had to make sure everyone got home. Everyone had to survive.

"Ok Raven," I said to her. She was the only one not sweating buckets. "Lead the way."

"Remember," Zatanna told me, "We aren't here for a fight. We are here to save my dad."

"I know." I said, defensively. Even though she was right, I was prepared for a fight. Trigon wanted us here.

I thought back to 3 or 4 years ago, when he had first tried to enter our realm. Raven was the key. I don't know how, but that's how it was. If he captured her, the world would be toast. He captured Zatara to lure us here. We knew that. But there was nothing we could do.

We walked through the hellscape cautiously for what seemed like hours. Time definitely was not the same here. It felt like hours, but I could still see the Bat-Jet about a few miles behind us. My thoughts felt clouded. I felt angry and hot. I knew I was a trespasser in a strange universe. And that universe knew it too.

Eventually we came to a mountain. Or castle. Or a city. It was confusing. It was some kind of combination of the three.

"Friend Raven," Starfire asked, "What is this place?"

"It was my home." Raven said, her voice filled with melancholy, "When Trigon invaded Azarath, we didn't have any Arbiters to save us. He fused our realms. This is all that remains."

"So what makes you think that Gio will be here?" Constantine asked.

"It's… the best place to hide from Trigon." She said, hesitating slightly.

Something felt wrong about this. I thought I trusted Raven, but something felt… off. Could she really be trusted?

As we entered the city, Batman grabbed my shoulder and the two of us stayed behind.

"Something doesn't feel right." I told him.

"I know." He confirmed, "I don't like it."

"What do you think it is?"

"What can you tell me about Raven?"

"She's Trigon's daughter, but there is definitely no family love there."

Batman thought for a moment. He looked like he was about to say something, but Zatanna came back.

"You two coming?" She asked. We both nodded and followed the rest of the group.

We walked through the dark hall for a little while. I felt uneasy, as though something bad were about to happen.

"BB, no offense," Cyborg said, quite angrily, "But you need to back up like, 4 steps. You're following me way too close."

"What?" Beast Boy asked, in a similar angry tone, "No I'm not!"

"Dude, back the hell up! You smell like dog!" Cyborg burst out.

"You wanna go or something!" Beast Boy argued back.

"Guys!" Nightwing intervened, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Tell this… thing that he needs to back the hell up." Cyborg mumbled. This was strangely uncharacteristic of them. They were best friends, and DID have the occasional fight, but not like this. This was different.

"Who you calling 'thing,' goddam Iron Giant?" Beast Boy heckled. Cyborg yelled in rage and knocked Nightwing out of the way and charged the green boy. Beast Boy turned into a large gorilla and charged the metal man. Suddenly, the two of them stopped before they met. Supergirl stood in the middle of them, grabbing both of them by the head to stop them.

"Both of you, calm down!" She ordered. "Beast Boy, just back the hell up! Cyborg, this is a small hallway. People are gonna get close."

Both of the guys grumbled, but they dropped it and separated. I walked over to John.

"Something's not right." I whispered to him.

"I feel it too." He said. Flag came over to us.

"Me too." He whispered, joining the conversation.


	24. Chapter 23

Ch 23

I walked ahead a little bit until I was walking by Zatanna.

"Hey." She said calmly.

Before I could speak, an image flashed into my head. It was a memory, from a few years ago. Me and Zatanna, in the kitchen of the Tower, making out and feeling each other up.

"Danny, you ok?" She asked me. I snapped back to reality.

"Sorry, I… um… do you feel that?" I asked her.

"You feel it too." She said. "I am nervous."

The group came to a large room with hallway. After some brief discussion, and some out-of-the-blue arguments, we decided to split up.

Kori and I went down one hall cautiously. I drew my gun. This did not feel right at all.

We arrived at another room that felt strangely… earth-like. We were actually back in the Tower. This wasn't right.

"What?" Kori asked, "How are we…?"

"I don't think we are. It's an illusion." I told her. She walked over to the couch and picked up the remote and turned on the tv.

It had to be an illusion, it had to. But the news was playing on the television. It was surreal.

"Friend Daniel…" Kori said, somewhat seriously.

"What Kori?" I asked. I felt concerned for her. I sat down by her on the couch.

She sighed, then laid her head on my shoulder. I tensed up for a moment, but then relaxed. It felt odd.

"What's wrong Kori?" I asked her softly.

"Will I ever find someone to love?" She replied randomly.

"Uh… Kori, of course you will." I reassured her gently, "You're beautiful. You're one of the best people I know."

She looked up at me. She got up from my shoulder, and looked me in the eyes for a moment. Her hand was on my chest. I felt strange. She pressed me down on the couch and started kissing me passionately. I ran my hands across her body, then started kissing her neck.

What was going on? I felt like I couldn't stop myself. It was animalistic. Suddenly, I paused, remembering a conversation Kori and I had had years ago, about how animalistic the human desire for sex was. This was uncharacteristic of her.

"Kori…" I whispered, stopping.

"What is it?" She said, breathing lightly.

"Something isn't right."

The room shifted. We were back in the Azarathian City. We both stood up. There was some kind of demon standing opposite of the room to us. Once he realized we weren't in the illusion anymore, he started to run. I sprinted after him, taking a few shots with my pistol. Starfire zoomed through the air past me, and tackled him to the ground. She picked up the skinny devil and slammed him against the wall. Her eyes and fists glowed bright green. She was clearly pissed.

The Demon said something in a strange language and laughed. Kori hit him few times, but the Demon just laughed.

"Hit me harder, mortal." He said, this time in heavily accented English, "I am loving this."

Kori yelled and threw him to the ground. He started to get up, but I placed my foot on his back and pointed my gun at his head.

"Who are you?"

"Hehe, what are you going to do to me, baby?" It laughed. I fired a bullet next to his head. He cried out, but then started laughing.

"Talk!" I growled.

"I'm one of Trigon's sons!" He screeched, "I am this world's equivalent to an Arbiter. I am Lust."

Suddenly everything made sense. The almost animal attraction that Kori and I were feeling had to have been coming from him. That means the anger and tension that everyone was feeling was also from one of Trigon's sons.

"What are you gonna do to me, Death?" He laughed.

"I'm gonna kill you." I growled.

"Wait, Daniel, Don't!" Kori yelled as I blasted the Demon in the head. His blood was black, and splattered similar to a human's. Kori looked at me in disbelief. "You… you killed him!"

"So?" I asked, "he's not human."

"Well neither am I! And neither is Megan!" She said angrily. "Would you kill us if we were to fight against you?"

"Kori, that's not fair. You know it's not the same."

"Is it fair to him?" She asked pointing at the body in the ground.

As much as I tried to argue it, I felt like Kori was right.

"Kori, am I… a good person?"

She came over, clearly softened by what I had asked, and hugged me tightly. It was so different than just a few minutes before. It felt like Kori and I had always been. Just friends.

"Friend Daniel, you _are_ a good person." She affirmed, "you are just… going down a bad path. But you can still be good.

She was right. I was becoming someone who I didn't want to be. There was only one thing I could do to ensure that I didn't become this monster. I opened the cartridge of my gun, emptied it, then threw the pistol aside.

"No more." I said, sighing, "I am done killing."

"Come my friend," She said, smiling, "let us go find the others."

After walking around for a little bit, we finally met the rest of the group in a large room. They had also found a Demon, Wrath. But they had captured him, rather than killing him.

"Where is Giovanni Zatara?" Batman asked, interrogating the Demon.

The Demon, who was a lot bigger and more muscular than Lust, replied in a strange language. Raven moved to the front of the Demon, and started speaking the same language.

I couldn't tell what she was saying, but she seemed pissed. The Demon cackled and shook his head.

"Pride," he addressed her in the same accented english tha Lust spoke in, "You think you're better than us, just because these creatures think you're a hero? Do they know the mistake they made coming here?"

Raven did something very unexpected. She hit the Demon across the chin with her fist. It hurt her quite a bit, because she was definitely not used to punching people.

The Demon laughed loudly. Raven used magic and tossed him into the wall, knocking him out cold.

"Raven, What the hell?" Zatanna asked, sounding a little irritated, "We don't know what he knew."

"He didn't know much, love." Constantine told her, caressing her shoulder gently.

"You speak Demon?" Raven asked.

"A little." Constantine said, "Understand it better than I speak it."

"He _did _know one thing." Raven corrected, "Trigon has Zatara. Just like he planned."

"So where does Trigon have him?" Zatanna asked.

"It's a… palace, I guess you could say. If we go back out the way we came, we should be able to see it."

Everyone started to file out of the room except for me and John. I grabbed Raven by the arm and kept her behind with us.

"Raven," I said to her, "We can't risk Trigon coming to our realm."

"What?" She asked.

"What he means, dear," Constantine added, "is that you're a risk here. He almost entered our world years ago through you. You're the key. If he captures you, we're done for."

"So what are you saying?" She asked, somewhat offended.

"You and BB are gonna go wait in the Bat-Jet. If we don't come back, you two need to get out of here before Trigon can capture you."

"I can't." She protested, "Trigon's not going to let you in his palace without me. He brought us here for me. You know that."

John sighed.

"She's right, mate. It's all part of his plan. She comes here, he kills you, then he goes to our realm."

"But the Arbiters have stopped him before. Even if I die, they'll be there."

"Afraid not." He told me. "If you die, that's two Arbiters down for the next 100 or so years. And Secret can't leave that damned house. That only leaves four of you to fight him. That's not enough. It would take at least five."

"Wait, if I died, that would mean there are _two _Arbiters down? Who's the other one?"

"Your brother, mate." Constantine told me, "Kameron was the Arbiter of Life. He died prematurely, but he would've been powerful."

"What?"

"That's one of the things that tipped Gio off to you." He explained, "the Arbiter of Death and the Arbiter of Life are always identical twins. And one almost always ends up killing the other. Almost, because of the exception in your case. It's interesting, really."

I was shook. Kam was an Arbiter? How? What?

"So that's just it then?" I asked, more angrily than I intended, "That's one Arbiter down, just like that?"

"He died before he could do anything about it. That's life, mate. Nothing's convenient. Let's get moving. There's nothing else we can do but walk into Trigon's hands."


	25. Chapter 24

Ch 24

I took a deep breath as we approached Trigon's throne room. Maybe it was a chamber or prison or something. It was so hard to tell here. And it was so hot that I didn't want to put in the mental effort to just decided.

I was really wishing I hadn't thrown away my gun yet. Not that it would do anything against Trigon. He was probably invulnerable, like Superman. Bullets probably wouldn't do any good to him.

As we entered, Trigon smiled and stood up from his throne. He was about 15 feet tall and his red body rippled with pure muscle. He held a spear in his hand, formed from some kind of black stone. His hair was long and straight. The disnerving thing was his eyes though. They glowed with a fiery glow, and he had four of them, two above the usual pair. He blinked them in pairs too, not at the same time. My stomach churned that the sight of this massive creature.

Raven, who I admit, was someone very beautiful and deep down kind hearted, came from _that?_ I couldn't even imagine.

"Daughter," Trigon said, taking a step forward. His steps shook the ground slightly. His voice was calm and somewhat soothing, but somehow sounded like metal scraping on stone at the same time, but his english, unlike that of his sons, was perfectly spoken and unaccented, "it is so good you have returned to me."

"Save it Trigon!" I yelled, taking a step forward.

"Ah, and i see you have brought me a gift; Death, it _has _been a long time, hasn't it, my old friend? Your new form probably doesn't even remember me."

I felt something inside me. Like, a stirring. Some kind of energy, waiting to release itself. It was almost an excitement. But at the same time, I was confused. He spoke to me, or rather, to my soul, as though we were old friends. And I felt it too.

"You really don't remember, do you?" He said calmly as he laughed, "You and I, Death, are Friends!"

"John, what the hell does he mean?"

"Beats me, mate!" Constantine said, shrugging.

"I will let someone else explain." Trigon said, "This _is _the reason you're here, after all. Bring in the prisoner!"

Two demons led Giovanni Zatara, bloodied and beaten, into the room. His mouth was gagged, and his hands were covered by metal boxes, on which were written some ancient runes. The demons ungagged him and unhooked the chains, and he ran over to meet Zatanna.

"My beautiful daughter!" Zatara said, hugging her tightly.

"How touching." Trigon said, "Magician, explain to Death about the battle we fought!"

Zatara just looked at me, shaking his head.

"Daniel, look at the man you have become." He said, ignoring Trigon's orders. "I just want you to know that. I am proud of you."

"Explain!" Trigon roared. His yell shook the chamber we were in. It was the roaring of many lions. It stabbed us all with fear.

Zatara looked at Batman, then back at me.

"Daniel," he said, "there's something that I have not told you. Nabu told me not to tell you, but that was my error. I should've done what I thought was right."

"What?" I asked, clearly confused.

"When Trigon first tried to enter our realm, he didn't have Raven, but he did have help." Zatara explained, "The Arbiter of Death, that same spirit that you carry, betrayed the other Arbiters and he betrayed all of mankind."

"Wait, but, I would never do that!" I protested.

"I know you wouldn't. But the entity that dwells inside you, he did at one point.

The rest of the Arbiters were only able to stop Trigon after Death's brother, the Arbiter of Life, was able to slay him."

My head was spinning. I felt a fire burning in my chest. Trigon laughed.

"So, Death," He started to say, "now that you know your true destiny, join me!"

"Daniel!" Zatara barked, snapping my attention back to reality. "The power inside you may be evil, but you are not!"

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Batman. He nodded. I looked over at Nightwing.

"I may have betrayed my friends once," I said to Trigon, "But I will not make that mistake twice."

I nodded at Nightwing, who raised one of his batons in the air.

"Titans, Go!"

The battle ensued quickly. Out of nowhere, demons filled the room. Trigon's other sons, as well as his servants. We fought hard, probably harder than we ever had.

The moment there was an opening, I bolted straight for Trigon. He readied his spear as I can. Even if I had been on his side before. No, even if _the Arbiter_ has been on his side before, it still gave me the power to defeat him.

I focused my energy on a powerful blast. My magic felt rusty, but it did something. Trigon staggered back, grunting. I wasn't going to let him have any time to recover. I jumped up and kicked him in the head. It hurt my foot like hell, but I could tell it didn't feel great for him either.

When I landed though, he had recovered. He swept my legs from under me with his spear. He plunged it down, aiming for my heart. I rolled out of the way, and quickly got back to my feet. He readied himself again.

Raven suddenly came out of nowhere, and used magic to throw a large rock at him. He spun towards her, forgetting about me in his anger. I lunged towards him, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck. He gasped for air, but found none. Unfortunately, his arms were long and his strength great, so he pulled me off before I could do anything real harmful.

I landed on my feet, right next to Raven.

"The three of us are some of the most powerful beings in existence," Trigon said to Raven and I, "Join me, and we can take over, not destroy, all the realms."

"Hell no!" I said, charging the colossal demon. He swung his spear at me, but I ducked it. I jumped through the air, but he caught me around the neck. He squeezed tightly, choking me.

"Shame, Arbiter," He said to me as I gasped for air, "perhaps your next incarnation will be more intelligent."

Suddenly, a yell came from the skies above.

"You… will… not… touch him!" Starfire screamed, firing starbolts at the Demon king. He dropped me, and threw his spear at Kori. To his surprise, she caught it, used the momentum to turn it around, then threw it back. He rolled to narrowly avoid the spear.

Kori floated down to me, smiling.

"What are you?" Trigon asked.

"I am Koriand'r, rightful queen of Tamaran!" She said with dignity, "and you will not touch my friends!"

Trigon stomped the ground, and drew two long swords of black crystal out of the red earth. He charged the three of us. Raven teleported behind him and fired some kind of beam at him. Kori picked me up, spun around a few times, and tossed me at the distracted giant. I kicked him in the head as she flew in from the other side and struck his knees. His massive form fell, hitting the ground hard.

As he pulled himself back to his knees, he let out a battle cry that echoed throughout the chamber and perhaps throughout the world. The demons stopped fighting. Everything was silent for about three seconds.

After those three seconds, a colossal beast tore the roof off the palace. It was in the form of a large man, but it had no face.

"You had your chance," Trigon roared, "now it's time to die!"

All the Titans, except for me, Speedy, Nightwing, and Cyborg, changed their focus to the Beast. Zatanna, Constantine, Zatara, Batman, and Flag also stuck behind to continue the battle with the demons. Even Raven changed her focus to the beast.

"You cannot defeat me, Death." Trigon said.

"My name is not Death!" I roared, "i am the Dayhound!"

I focused my magic, and stomped the ground as Trigon had. The hilt of a black crystal blade extended itself to me. I drew it from the ground and charged the crimson devil.

We locked blades, but he had the advantage, because of his great strength. I found it more advantageous during this duel to dodge rather than attempt to block his blows, which sent me flying in each strike.

He was wearing me down though. I couldn't continue this fight. I was getting tired. It seemed like an hour had passed. He was still strong and energetic as ever, despite the good number of blows I had landed on him. The battle with the rest of the demons was going rather unsuccessfully too. Though my comrades were all standing and had defeated many demons, there seemed to be an infinite army of them.

This was a losing battle. We couldn't win by fighting. Even though I had told Starfire I was done killing, that was the only way we were going to win: if I killed Trigon.

"Never before has a mortal withstood me this long in open combat. You have my respect, Dayhound. But now it's time to end this."

"I agree." I said confidently. I readied my blade. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to defeat him. I knew it.

There was a way though. I was going to let him stab me. Let him run me through with a blade. And, with my dying breaths, i was going to take his head clean off.

The giant charged at me. I stood my ground. I was prepared to make this sacrifice. He held a blade out, ready to make the stab, to fall into my trap. I took a deep breath.

Suddenly, something hit me from the side, knocking me out of the way. I heard a grunt. I looked over and saw Batman sitting on the end of Trigon's sword. The devil was clearly confused, but before he could react, I yanked his hair back and slit his throat, spilling his boiling black blood all over the scarlet brimstone floor.

"Bruce!" I cried out, kneeling next to him. "Bruce, no! What did you do?"

The battle ended, almost as though the instant Trigon took his last bloody breath, all of his slaves knew he had died.

"Daniel…" Batman grunted. Nightwing ran over, taking off his mask as he did.

"Bruce, no!" He said. Blood was spilling from the Dark Knight's mouth.

"Why did you save me, you idiot!" I growled. He just smiled.

"I don't say this enough. But I am proud of you." He told us, "both of you. Dick… you're everything I wanted you to become… I love you both, my sons."

Just like that, the Dark Knight, the Hero of Gotham, the Batman fell into a cold, eternal sleep.

I was numb. There was no way. No way he was dead. He… he was Batman! He did the impossible all the time, right?

I didn't see him in the underworld when we passed back over to our realm, so he had to be alive, right?

Dick was feeling the same things that I was. I could tell, because he had the same look on his face. A blank expression, a look of disbelief. This was _Batman_! He… he couldn't die. He was supposed to be doing this forever.

It wasn't until we took to body into Wayne Manor again that I believed it. When I saw Alfred break down.

"Oh Master Bruce!" He cried, falling to his knees, "I told them I would take care of you, I promised! My God, Master Bruce why?"

Jason didn't understand what was happening. I couldn't blame him. He's seen Batman get shot at, stabbed, and beat up many times, he probably thought the Man was invincible.

The funeral was bitter. Closed casket. The official reason was that Bruce Wayne had gotten in a drunken car accident and died in an exploding car. It was good though, to have it closed casket. We had him dressed as he was: the Batman. He lived as the Dark Knight. It was only fit that he was buried as him.

Surprisingly, everyone was there. The whole Justice League. It all hit them pretty hard. Despite Bruce being a cold, unfriendly man, they'd all grown to love him, in their own way. They could call him their friend. Diana, Wonder Woman, was taking it particularly hard. Bruce has mentioned to me once that he felt something for her. He loved her, and she knew it. The funeral only confirmed to me that she also loved him. They had never done anything, only traded glances from time to time. He couldn't allow himself. Superman was also taking it rough, because he considered the man to be his best friend.

It was a hard and undeserved funeral. Gotham didn't even know that Batman was dead. He deserved more than a Bruce Wayne funeral. He deserved statues, and memorials. He had saved this city from itself, and he had saved the world when no one else could. And now, he was gone.


	26. Epilogue

Epilogue: The Cowl

Dick and I stared at it for hours. Batman's latest suit. He had never gotten to wear it on the street, but it was advanced.

All black, no cape. It had a built-in wingsuit or something like that. Alfred told us he had also been working on rocket boots for it. Unlike the other suits he had made, this one covered the whole face, and the eyes were red, because they had built-in night vision goggles. There was no fabric, except for in the wingsuit. This was made of a super tough, lightweight alloy that Lucius Fox had invented. It was completely bullet proof. At least, for all handguns. But even then, it would allow the wearer to survive a shot from a .50 cal rifle, as long as it wasn't a headshot. To finish it, there was a crimson bat symbol across the chest. A symbol of terror, for those in Gotham.

"So… um…" Dick said, "Which one of us should put it on?"

It had been months since Batman died. Almost a year. Dick and I had stayed in Gotham after the funeral to make sure things stayed calm, but the City needed Batman again. Though it felt wrong for one of us to put on the Cowl, we understood that's what He would've wanted.

"I… don't know." I told him.

"You should." Dick said to me, "It will fit you better. You're closer to Batman's height and build. People won't even know that Batman changed anything but the suit."

"Dick… I don't know if I can." I admitted, "What if I get pushed over the edge again?"

"Danny, you won't." He said, putting a hand on my shoulder, "He won't let you."

"You're more capable." I told him.

"I like being Nightwing. I'm content with it. I love leading the Titans. Maybe when you retire, I will put on the Cowl, but for now, Gotham needs you. It needs Batman. And you, my brother, are the most like him out of either of us."

I sighed. I couldn't do it. I couldn't fill those shoes. I looked away. How could anyone? Dick was the best fit. He could lead Gotham into a new age.

"If I may, sirs," Alfred jumped in entering the Cave, "Master Bruce once told me that either of you would be a good fit for the Cowl. He thought the world of both of you, and knew that either of you would be a suitable replacement."

He walked over to us. We had been down here for probably two hours. He brought us tea and sandwiches.

"But this is not a simple responsibility. Master Bruce was not the same ever once he put on the mask. It will change you forever. The weight of the burdens of the World will be on your shoulders. Master Bruce was mankind's final hope. He was able to keep up with the Justice League and with the superhumans of the world because he knew that if he fell, no one would be there to be the last line of defense. If it were my choice, I would close this damned Cave forever. Because of it, Master Wayne did not have a life and he never found love. But the world needs Batman. Whichever of you two you decide, he will do a wonderful job. A job equal to or better than Master Bruce himself."

Dick and I looked at each other. We both nodded softly.

"Danny," Dick said to me, hugging me, "You got this, brother."

Dick left the cave. Left me, Alfred, and the Cowl. All I could do was stare at the new Batsuit. My suit.

"Well," Alfred finally said, "Shall we get you prepared to go out tonight, Master Daniel? Or should I say, Batman?"

THE END

Daniel Wilson will return for one final adventure in the next installment of the Dayhound Saga: "The Dayhound: Sunset"


End file.
